Wizards

WIZARDS-1977-I realize 1977 was a long time ago but I found this Ralph Bakshi production a little disappointing. It's very crude and cartoonish and I thought some of the voices and characters don't quite mesh with the overall story of two wizard brothers: Avatar, a good guy who uses magic and Blackwolf, who uses the last remains of technology to conquer the post-apocalyptic Earth which resembles Tolkien's Middle Earth. There are elves, fairies, wizard, mutants and strange robots. Avatar is joined by a fairy princess Elinore, the elf warrior Weehawk and a rebel robot named Peace. To get his armies in a frenzy Blackwolf shows his troops WW2 footage including speeches by Hitler. There are some violent scenes but it almost seems to be aimed at children.

Despite some obstacles WIZARDS was a success for Bakshi and it led to him doing the first half of his often criticized THE LORD OF THE RINGS the next year. (the second half was never made).

Thanks for reading!