(…)

And then there’s Wizards.

The Character of Avatar is (in personality) uncomfortably close to Vaugn (sp?) Bodé’s Cheech Wizard. The World background, character design, and large sections of the story closely resemble a longer work of Bodé’s; Strontium 90. If Bodé’s heirs and assigns ever recieved one thin dime from the movie, I never heard about it.

This is one of my wife’s favorite films, so we compromise. I’ll put up with it in the house, but we buy it used. Until I am authoratatively told otherwsie I must assume that Bakshi doesn’t deserve any remuneration.

I don’t know what Ralph Bakshi was thinking when he made this post-apocalyptic animated “fantasy” about an evil wizard who uses Nazi propaganda films to stir his mutant minions to conquer the earth and his brother trying to stop him, but I know what I am thinking: if this is the sort of film Bakshi considers the pinnacle of his career, then I am a monkey’s uncle. Granted, WIZARDS does have some interesting aspects, such as vibrantly drawn stills (accompanied by a very BORING, monotonous female voiceover/narrator) and a pretty song during the closing credits, but the overall package is an unbearable, incoherent mess that lacks any kind of entertainment for fans of adult animation or otherwise.

I am not an advocate against adult animated movies; there are some, like PERFECT BLUE, which are well done. WIZARDS attempts to be an edgy good VS evil fantasy epic. Unfortunately it fails on many regards. For one thing, the animation is appalling: it’s cheap, nasty, and at times, almost like a cut-rate Saturday morning cartoon. In a story like this, such an atmosphere (with goofy-looking characters and some truly disgusting looking monsters) is inappropriate. Probably the most interesting sequences are when Bakshi uses “rotoscoped” techniques–which are actual live-actors painted with neon shadow colors in post-production. While this makes for a unique look (not to mention economically safer for Bakshi’s sake), it clashes with the cartoonish backdrops, only ensuring the poor production values. There is even one bizarre sequence where we see actual footage from a war movie substituting as a background while the crudely drawn elves perform giggle-induced belly flops with the corresponding “BOINK!” sound effects in the background. These clashing styles only put an even bigger damper on the artwork itself; the mismatched visuals, believe it or not, actually look worse on DVD than on video or in theaters. (The digital transfer even suffers from digital defects.)

Where WIZARDS really falls apart, however, is in the characterization and plot departments. The overly deadpan female voiceover informs us that the wizard brothers Avatar and Blackwolf are two different opposites: Avatar is pure and loving of nature, while Blackwolf relishes darkness. That description goes out the window when we actually meet the brothers on screen. Avatar, instead of being the gentle, grandfatherly like wizard the narrator described to us earlier, is a dwarfish, grouchy old codger, spending much of the time rambling and holding a cigar beneath his foot. Blackwolf is as gruesome and ugly as we would expect, but all we learn from him is that he wants to take over the world, and consequently, isn’t much more interesting than his brother. The same sadly applies to the other characters. There’s a very scantily clad fairy female that coos in a grating, giggly voice–she serves no purpose other than to provide something for hormonal boys to swoon at. Only an elf warrior displays something in the way of an interesting personality; very aggressive and bold, he probably might be the only one worth rooting for. But there’s nothing appealing or compelling about any of the rest of the cast.

Matters are not helped by the needlessly jumbled overcomplicated plot, which jumps all over the place with no clear direction and throws in some needless, unnecessarily baffling plot twists (such as the fairy character suddenly turning evil and almost written off as a traitor… only to be redeemed at the end). There are even some offensively horrendous sequences (the bottom of a creature with a Jewish star marked on it dangling from a rope in a swastika-adorned throne room, and two praying dwarf priests who beat each other up), and plenty of others involving the cast muttering dialogue that only someone on drugs could construct. When a plot this confusing is gutted by an even more mind numbing script, it makes the experience of watching WIZARDS even more frustrating as a viewer.

The aural aspects of the film, aside from the aforementioned end title song, are just as displeasing. The voice acting (which includes a then unknown Mark Hamill) is dry and awkward, with the worst offenders being the fairy’s obnoxious giggling and the boring (and I mean boring with a capital B) narrator. The cheesy synthesizer pop music is, well, just that: cheesy. (Matters are not made any better by the Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo or Mono tracks; both sound very hollow and flat.)

I did find the extras on this disc somewhat interesting; there are still galleries, two (very bad) theatrical trailers, a TV spot, and a 30-minute interview with Bakshi himself. He comes across as a rambling, disgruntled fellow who tells a story that makes no more sense than this movie does; this probably explains the dubious quality of his output. Indeed, from seeing other films of his such as FIRE AND ICE (probably his best, though that’s not saying much) and his hideous “treatment” of LORD OF THE RINGS, Bakshi does have some talent, but he spends most of the time offending rather than getting the point across.

I understand that this film has its loyal following and I do recognize that Bakshi has his merits as an artist, but WIZARDS has never been on my list of favorites, and I cannot recommend it. There are plenty of FAR, far better animated movies than this wretchedly animated, dated, misguided mess.