"They've killed Fritz!"
Wizards (1977) aka War Wizards (the name was changed at the behest of George Lucas as he thought two movies released at the same time by the same studio with war in the title, his being Star Wars, would have been off-putting to movie goers) written and directed by Ralph Bakshi, was certainly a departure from some of his previous adult animation works, Fritz the Cat (1972) and Heavy Traffic (1973), but provided Bakshi the opportunity to show he could create a animated feature for all viewers, young and old, that spoke to the viewer on intelligent terms. Were all viewers ready to hear what he had to say? No, and given the subsequent release of Star Wars (like two weeks later) Wizards, which had been enjoying a great amount of success, got pushed out of theaters to allow for space for George Lucas' epic space opera. With this release of Wizards on DVD, maybe now his film will garner the recognition it deserved so long ago.
The story goes that the Earth gets consumed in apocalyptic...
Classic animation lovers rejoice
I'm ashamed to say that there are still some classic animated movies that i've never seen before, Wizards was one in particular, and i must say i enjoyed the hell out of it. I've seen many other Ralph Bakshi films including my all time favorite "Fire and Ice", but just never got around to seeing this.
The film may be 35 years old but it doesn't show, they've done a good job cleaning up the video and audio quality, but the video quality could still be improved upon. One thing i really appreciate about this release is the included 30 min special feature documentary with Ralph Bakshi, which is very entertaining and informative.
I recommend that everyone buy this film to encourage future releases of classic animated movies by Bakshi and other great animated film makers.
"They've killed Fritz!!!"
Ralph Bakshi's Wizards
While it is certainly not for young children, older teens and adults will get a real kick out of "Wizards". Set in a post-apocalyptic world wrought by radiation due to a nuclear holocaust, most humans have died, and the population consists mainly of elves, fairies, dwarves, and then the mutants. The world is in danger from the threat of technology, brought upon by the evil wizard, Blackwolf. It is up to his brother, the comical, yet good hearted wizard, Avatar, to stop him. Joining Avatar in his quest are Weehawk, chief of a tribe of warrior elves, Elenor, fairy princess of the land of Montagar, and Peace, a former assassin of Blackwolf's (formerly known as Necron 99) who changes his ways and fights against the threat of technology. The WWII references abound, and there are many more adult-oriented references throughout. It dares to go where cartoons usually do not, making allusions to sex, prostitution, religion, and there's even a rather racist Vietnam...
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