Review of Wizards (1977) by Esther J — 28 Jun 2011

Now this is my favorite Ralph Bakshi film. I had first watch the middle and ending on the Space Channel, one night when I was a teenager. And months later, it came back on the Space Channel and so I taped it.

In the film, Earth was devastated by nuclear war, triggered by five terrorists. After millions of years, only a handful of humans are left, Earth is split between the radioactive lands, peopled by mindlessly violent mutant humans, where "each birth (is) a new disaster", and the good lands, peopled by humankind's true ancestors: elves, fairies, and dwarfs, who live in peace with each other and with a revived nature. Into this are born twin sorcerers, Blackwolf and Avatar.

They are enemies from their childhood. Blackwolf settled in the mutant lands, built an army, and attempted to conquer the good lands. But his army lacked motivation and was easily defeated. Then he discovered records of Nazi Germany and WWII, and with his power of mind control, was able to drive his army and make it a devastating power. His first move, however, is to send out assassins to kill the strongest leaders among the good folk.

When one fails to kill Avatar, and is captured, Avatar realizes he must face his brother once and for all, and destroy him, for the sake of the entire world. He sets out with the assassin, now tamed, as a guide, and takes the fairy Elinore and the elf Weehawk as his companions. The rest of the movie is their quest to find Blackwolf's evil machine and destroy it, and him.

I don't have a favorite scene, because I love the whole film from beginning to end. And I'm sure some mutants wanted to be human again - just a thought, mind you; I am also sure that there were some pocketfuls of humans on Earth in the film. And you know, I wish that would happen - fairies,elves and dwarfs appearing for real in the distant future - not the nuclear war part, of course.