After the death of his mother, the evil mutant wizard Blackwolf discovers some long-lost military technologies. Full of ego and ambition, Blackwolf claims his mother's throne, assembles an army and sets out to brainwash and conquer Earth. Meanwhile, Blackwolf's gentle twin brother, the bearded and sage Avatar, calls upon his own magical abilities to foil Blackwolf's plans for world domination -- even if it means destroying his own flesh and blood.
Bob Holt Jesse Welles Richard Romanus David Proval Mark Hamill Jim Connell Steve Gravers Barbara Sloane Angelo Grisanti Hyman Wien Christopher Tayback Peter Hobbs Tina Romanus Susan Anton Liz Bakshi Ralph Bakshi Victoria Bakshi Hans Conried Charles Gordone Heinrich Himmler Adolf Hitler Viktor Lutze Will Ryan Susan Tyrrell
Los hechiceros de la guerra, Die Welt in 10 Millionen Jahren, Волшебники, Los hechiceros de la guerra (Wizards), Varázslók, Hechiceros, 魔界传奇, Les Sorciers de la guerre, 마법사, Sihirbazlar, ウィザーズ
War and historical adventure Monsters, aliens, sci-fi and the apocalypse Intense violence and sexual transgression Thought-provoking sci-fi action and future technology Action-packed space and alien sagas Dreamlike, quirky, and surreal storytelling Fantasy adventure, heroism, and swordplay Surreal and thought-provoking visions of life and death Show All…
AustraliaPG
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I feel like my life can now be separated into two distinct eras: "pre-Wizards" and "post-Wizards"
This movie has one of the dumbest premises of all time. “What if there were nazis fighting Elves and Faeries and shit” fucking genius, pure vibe kino. More movies should use rotoscoping like this.
“why would you ever draw a NORMAL woman when you can draw a SEXY one with BIG FUCKIN HONKERS!!! AM I RIGHT FELLAS!!! AWOOOOOOGA!!!!!” - Ralph Bakshi probably
Turns out a 15 year break from Ralph Bakshi gave me no further insight to his work, nor did my opinion of his work change in any way: I can appreciate it, but I don't actually like it.
Wizards is a mixed bag of of animation styles, characterizations, storylines, and odd soundtrack choices, all of which reeks of bad 70's dirt weed. The upside to cramming so much into your film is that some of it is bound to work.
By and large the movie looks great. The heroes tend to be really cartoon-y, but I'm willing to give that a pass for how cool the rest of it looks. I realize that the rotoscoping and stills and watercolor backgrounds…
Sort of like Ralph Bakshi's Dune or Excalibur. Taking some Tolkien-esque children's fantasy/sword-and-sorcery quest broad strokes and giving them that violent, horny, and political polemic edge that he's known for (nuclear anxiety, propaganda, militarism, fascism, the holocaust, etc) and coming out the other side as this surreal, gothic futuristic apocalypse with sexy fairies, Nazi orcs, a funky psych-rock soundtrack and a horny cigar-smoking wizard doing a Peter Falk impression. Not sure its mix of juvenile humor/fetishes and sober, hellish fairytale/anti-war messaging totally comes together but the trippy design work and crude expressionist animation (including rotoscoping of old war/battle movies) is pretty cool.
Ralph Bakshi was like: "I don't want my villains to be an allegory for nazis like every other fantasy villains, that's too unsubtle. I know, I'm gonna make them literal fucking nazis, with swastikas and all. In fact, let's project a giant Hitler in the sky, why not?"
Honestly, it was kind of a genius decision.
This wasn't bad. The rating is mostly because Bakshi's psychedelic style of animation isn't really my cup of tea, but if it is for you, then I highly reccomend this.
Ralph Bakshi, a creator of animated television series such as Hulk and Iron Man, presents us with this futuristic story where time melts like alchemy. In a world plunged into the desolation of a nuclear catastrophe, life and magic resurface, fairies, elves, and goblins, myths of the past, confront a world of ghouls and mutants created by nuclear contamination, in a power struggle between two different brothers, one representing good and the other evil. Both old men never cease to achieve their dreams of peace and domination respectively.
Bakshi was a kind of misunderstood rebel, who was not accepted by the puritanical Hollywood society nor by the sectarian circles of commercial animation, (see Fritz The Cat to know what I…
At my dad's house, there was a cubby hole under the stairs (so cramped, you had to hunch) where I found two cardboard boxes filled with 70s National Lampoons and Underground Comix. I would paw at those smelly pages for hours, not really understanding what I was reading. I wrestled with images of naked women, a barrage of drug references, and mind-warping violence. It always ended when I felt too nauseous to keep reading.
Watching Ralph Bakshi movies makes me feel the same way.
I remember excitedly getting the DVD of WIZARDS when there was a brief Bakshi revival in the early 2000s and not liking it at all. I thought it was deeply unpleasant, poorly paced, and cheap to…
