Why Ralph Bakshi’s ‘Wizards’ is His Most Confounding Film Yet!

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Hey! An actual top ten! That hasn’t happened in a while.

I found more enjoyment delving into Wes Craven’s collection of films compared to what’s on offer here. The peaks of Ralph Bakshi’s career reach the summit of unremarkable brilliance (let me emphasize, an intriguing mediocrity), while the remainder often sinks into varying degrees of ordinary subpar quality.

He wasn’t skillful at narrating stories; instead, his abilities as an animator were subpar. I mentioned it multiple times, but his characters rarely displayed shadows, which was a significant oversight. It might seem trivial, but in movie after movie, scene after scene, the characters appeared to hover without any connection to the ground they were supposed to be walking on. This inconsistency created a constant distraction that refused to fade away. The characters always seemed detached from the floor beneath them, which is a fundamental animation issue that he never managed to resolve. Even in his ninth and final animated film, “Cool World,” this problem remained unaddressed.

He was intriguing only under two specific circumstances: first, when he was involved with scripts that weren’t his own creations. Interestingly, three of his top films were penned by others, while the rest were self-written. The second instance was his use of rotoscoping. This technique, employed to address his struggles in animation that his less skilled animators couldn’t overcome, was mostly successful. Characters from “The Lord of the Rings” and “American Pop” are commendable, though they still lacked interaction with the ground (frustratingly so). His freestyle animation, on the other hand, tended to deviate from character depiction and was less likely to maintain a consistent appearance in motion. Furthermore, his character designs were often simple and lacking in color depth.

In essence, he saw himself as a solitary comic book artist who never questioned the conventional style of books. His purpose was merely to provoke and disturb in a few frames, moving swiftly on. This mindset carried over into his films, where separate scenes sat awkwardly together with minimal linking elements at all.

To be honest, I found myself grappling with these ten movies quite a bit. Thankfully, I’ve reached the end of the marathon, and it feels like a relief. However, do remember to peruse my comprehensive rankings as well. They too are definitive, and creating them was a more enjoyable experience compared to this series.

#10 in my ranking of Ralph Bakshi’s filmography.

Ralph Bakshi aimed to showcase his ability to create family-friendly films, but instead, he produced a movie that was filled with imagery reminiscent of Nazis, a fairy character often in an almost completely undressed state, excessive violence, a confusing and largely aimless plot, complex politics in a future Earth after a nuclear apocalypse, and various species of humans ranging from grotesque trolls to fairies and elves. To make matters worse, there was also magic involved. I honestly didn’t think I would dislike Wizards more than any other work by Ralph Bakshi, but I did. This film is a chaotic jumble, clearly indicating that Bakshi lacked the skill to construct a coherent narrative over 80 minutes of screen time. To add insult to injury, his cinematic aspirations outweighed his budget, resulting in a style that was even more disjointed than his previous works where he could at least maintain one consistent style throughout an entire film.

The most perplexing aspect of this film filled with puzzles is the excessive amount of narration and summary it provides, starting with two lengthy expositions within the first ten minutes. The initial exposition explains the destruction of Earth by nuclear weapons, the emergence of new species after millions of years, the fairy goddess who has twin sons (one good, one evil), their subsequent fight following her death, and how the good son defeats the bad one, banishing him to the radioactive areas of the planet. The visuals in this film are static and unappealing, as director Ralph Bakshi lacks the animation skills to bring them to life effectively.

In the present day (either 3,000 or 5,000 years later, depending on whom you ask), the good son, Avatar (portrayed by Bob Holt in an inexplicable imitation of Peter Falk), resides in a tower with the president (James Connell) of some organization and his daughter Elinore (Jesse Welles), who is a fairy despite the president not being one. Avatar is training her to harness all her magical abilities. Then, there’s another lengthy flashback sequence that doesn’t involve Avatar as the narrator, for some reason, with Susan Tyrell providing an uncredited voiceover. This sequence reveals that the bad son, Blackwolf (Steve Gravers), has been gathering “dark magic” and ancient technology to amass power, including a projector playing Nazi propaganda that transforms his weak troops into relentless killing machines during their failed invasions of good lands for unclear reasons. Additionally, Blackwolf dispatched Necron 99 (David Proval) to assassinate magical beings in the land to weaken them, resulting in the deaths of the president and Weehawk (Richard Romanus), an elf warrior. This sequence takes up around a fifth of the movie’s total runtime and leaves viewers unsure about the main conflict or protagonist, making the film a complete jumble.

In a different phrasing, here’s the text:

Avatar manages to apprehend Necron 99, then renames him Peace, as he miraculously turns virtuous due to unknown reasons (One may wonder why Avatar, who can transform negative aspects into positive ones so effortlessly, doesn’t utilize this ability more frequently? Is it because his magic is inherently flawed and inefficient, despite being the strongest wizard on the planet apart from Blackwolf?). With Avatar, Elinore, Weehawk, and Peace as their team, they embark on a mission to dismantle the projector and bring an end to the conflict once and for all.

I have numerous queries about this story’s structure, but if it manages to be intriguing, captivating, or even just moderately engaging, I can overlook a poor setup. Regrettably, what we receive is nothing but frustration instead. In Bakshi’s past projects, he seemed hardly interested in creating a coherent narrative from start to finish. For instance, works like Fritz the Cat, Heavy Traffic, and Coonskin are more like loosely connected scenes that somewhat form a story (though they never truly do). Wizards marks Bakshi’s first effort at a plot-driven narrative, but it appears he is unsure of how to execute it effectively. The prolonged opening’s inconsistent flow demonstrates this lack of knowledge, and the forest fairy encounter is another clear example.

The group embarks on their journey, encountering a mystical forest inhabited by diminutive fairies. Their leader, Sean (Mark Hamill), reprimands the fairies for mistreating guests while Avatar explains that longstanding tension between elves and fairies has eased over time, a fact that someone like Weehawk should be aware of. However, before Sean can finish, an unidentified force shoots him off-screen. Peace rushes to find the culprit, with Weehawk suspecting Peace. The fairy king then captures Avatar and Elinore. Elinore displays hidden magical abilities that summon gargoyles to protect her. Avatar appeals to the fairy king, convincing him to release them. The king obliges, transporting them to a snow-covered mountain pass. After some time, Weehawk and Peace join them again, and they continue their journey as before. This detour doesn’t significantly affect the plot but provides the characters with something to do temporarily, delaying their arrival at Blackwolf’s doorstep. It feels unnecessary and time-consuming.

They gather with elves who have a past association with Avatar, elves planning an assault on Blackwolf’s fortress. As they converse, Elinor performs an action that creates a psychic link with Blackwolf, allowing his consciousness to enter the vicinity. This unexpected connection sends all four of them over a cliff and into a location where a solitary enemy tank emerges, slaying Peace. Elinore voluntarily hurls herself into the tank, under Blackwolf’s influence. It is later revealed that she was possessed by Blackwolf, but this revelation holds no significance as it has no impact on events whatsoever. Avatar and Weehawk slip into Blackwolf’s palace during a fierce battle, Avatar shoots Blackwolf dead with a gun, and Weehawk rescues Elinore. The demise of Blackwolf brings an immediate end to the conflict raging outside, following a typical resolution in fantasy narratives.

This narrative appears disorganized, lacks depth, and fails to progress or develop its characters effectively. Additionally, the resolution is too simplistic. I’m astonished by the visual inconsistencies in this work, particularly as it seems that director Bakshi was not fully aware of how to handle his visual elements. This piece is notable for being the first use of rotoscoping in Bakshi’s released films, but it appears he utilized this technique haphazardly due to budget constraints. Instead of planning the use of rotoscoping from the outset and employing it strategically, such as distinguishing between good and bad characters visually, it seems that he resorted to this shortcut when faced with the challenge of animating a large battle scene. As a result, footage from various movies was cheaply rotoscoped, minimally altered, and incorporated into the final product. Remarkably, there’s even untouched footage from a World War II film (presumably Patton) that appears for approximately two seconds. If Bakshi had considered this approach earlier, he could have given thought to how rotoscoping could enhance the narrative and make the characters more distinct. Instead, it seems as though the use of rotoscoping was a last-minute cost-cutting measure, resulting in an aesthetically unappealing final product.

In simpler terms, Bakshi struggled significantly with animation, as evidenced by his team’s limited experience and focus on Saturday morning cartoons. His difficulties in depicting figures in motion led him to adopt rotoscoping, but this method was not executed properly due to haste. The characters he fully animated moved awkwardly and strangely, while the rotoscoping was imperfect. Moreover, these characters lacked depth and dimension, resembling those from 70s low-budget animation shows. Even with a film budget of several million dollars, the main characters had minimal detail, while smaller characters were often just colored blobs. Bakshi also used still photos and stock footage for backgrounds, creating a mismatch between characters and their environments. Comedy bits, featuring gas-masked villains, were flat and unfunny, resembling early silent film humor without any editing or pacing.

I found this movie rather unenjoyable. It’s slow-paced, monotonous, and at times difficult to understand. The way Avatar uses a gun to kill Blackwolf instead of his own powers seems to reflect a lack of understanding by Bakshi about the symbolism of his own creations. Furthermore, the use of Nazi imagery as a simplistic means to portray villains is disappointing, as it fails to provide substantial reasons for their wickedness beyond physical appearance and preconceived notions. Lastly, the notion that the destruction of the projector eradicates all evil is immature and contradicts the earlier established narrative (Blackwolf’s evil was not caused by Nazi imagery; he was inherently bad).

Really, Wizards is awful and easily Bakshi’s worst film up to this point.

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2025-02-10 00:16