First of all let me say that I love movies. In addition to that general love of film, there's a special place in my heart for animated films. So when I finally saw the DVD of "Wizards" I had hoped to see an overlooked classic. Instead, I sat through a poorly animated, horribly written waste of 83 minutes.
The biggest problem with this film is the story. None of the characters really came to life with believable personality, and had no motivation for what they said or did. The notable exception was Necron 99, who was fascinating. Underused in this film, his character could support an entire feature or comic book line. The attempt at humor was lacking to say the least. But as unfunny as it was, the heavy-handed attempt at allegory was even more disappointing. Much more effective than using real 20th century Nazi symbols would have been to use icons reminiscent of this familiar imagery. Yet, we are supposed to believe a wizard has found a working projector and reels of film from MILLIONS of years ago and by showing the old propaganda film, it will magically inspire the enemy and demoralize the good guys? Not to mention that in addition to the projector, that tanks, guns, and ammo from WWII survived a nuclear holocaust 2 million years prior?
Then there is the issue of the animation itself. I'm all for rotoscopic animation when used to good effect. However, the shadow army in this film is atrocious. How many times did Bakshi think he could use the same frames of rotoscopic animation as well as traditional animation over and over in the same film? It just looked lazy. The only characters that looked like they had been designed with any thought were Necron 99 (once again, the only character I liked) and the gas-masked troops of Blackwolf.
If you want to see a great animated feature from this time period, see "The Hobbit" (Rankin-Bass, 1977). If you want to see an example of a wonderful story redeeming poor animation, see "The Black Cauldron" (Disney, 1985). But skip "Wizards" if you value your time.
The biggest problem with this film is the story. None of the characters really came to life with believable personality, and had no motivation for what they said or did. The notable exception was Necron 99, who was fascinating. Underused in this film, his character could support an entire feature or comic book line. The attempt at humor was lacking to say the least. But as unfunny as it was, the heavy-handed attempt at allegory was even more disappointing. Much more effective than using real 20th century Nazi symbols would have been to use icons reminiscent of this familiar imagery. Yet, we are supposed to believe a wizard has found a working projector and reels of film from MILLIONS of years ago and by showing the old propaganda film, it will magically inspire the enemy and demoralize the good guys? Not to mention that in addition to the projector, that tanks, guns, and ammo from WWII survived a nuclear holocaust 2 million years prior?
Then there is the issue of the animation itself. I'm all for rotoscopic animation when used to good effect. However, the shadow army in this film is atrocious. How many times did Bakshi think he could use the same frames of rotoscopic animation as well as traditional animation over and over in the same film? It just looked lazy. The only characters that looked like they had been designed with any thought were Necron 99 (once again, the only character I liked) and the gas-masked troops of Blackwolf.
If you want to see a great animated feature from this time period, see "The Hobbit" (Rankin-Bass, 1977). If you want to see an example of a wonderful story redeeming poor animation, see "The Black Cauldron" (Disney, 1985). But skip "Wizards" if you value your time.