Review of Wizards (1977) by Blais E — 29 Nov 2010

Subversive underground animator Ralph Bakshi's ("Fritz the Cat", "Heavy Traffic", the later badly-conceived "Cool World"...) greatest achievement, a captivating intermingling of the Sci-Fi and Fantasy genres detailing the battle for superiority between two rival wizards/brothers; one, Avatar, a dumpy, frumpy, cigar-chomping, benign little troll, the other, Blackwolf, a viciously-evil, skeletal and power-mad maniac Hell-bent on taking over the very Middle Earth-like world they inhabit.

Resplendent with a passle of interesting characters, a stunning and beautiful color palette, loads of explosively well-executed, and bloody battle scenes alternating between very-Terry-Toonish, unsophisticated kiddie-cartoon-style animation and rigid & rotoscoped stock footage from old war movies depicting Blackwolf's advancing fascist-demon armies.

An imaginative and unique spectacle you won't soon forget.