Wizards (1977)   Starring (voice): Bob Holt, Jesse Welles, Richard Romanus, David Proval and Steve Gravers Eureka! RRP: £15.99 EKA40323 Certificate: PG Available 24 May 2010

Set on a post-apocalyptic Earth where technology has been outlawed after nuclear disaster, the film follows the story of Avatar, the kindly, eccentric sorcerer-ruler of Montagar, a rainbow paradise inhabited by elves and fairies. Avatar's evil brother Blackwolf dominates Scortch, a bleak land of goblins and wraiths. When the power-hungry Blackwolf attacks Montagar, Avatar, accompanied only by a spirited young woman and a courageous elf, must enter the darkness of Scortch to save his world...

Wizards is an animated movie from Ralph Bakshi who also directed Fritz the Cat (1972); The Lord of the Rings (1978); and Cool World (1992). I have to admit that there's not a single one of his movies that I've actually enjoyed. The biggest problem I've always had is that he seems to miss so many opportunities and his finished films end up feeling flat and uninspiring.

I did take issue with Bakshi's audio commentary where he insisted that this was a better movie for kids than a lot of the output of Disney. To be honest I found this movie as hard going now as I did years ago when I first saw it. The story is incredibly slow and cumbersome and the constant shifting in animation styles is very distracting (most notably the rotoscoped scenes)

At the heart of Wizards is one of the oldest cliches out there. Two brothers go on to lead very different lives - one good, one evil - and the two eventually end up confronting each other in a huge showdown.

The press information we received stated that this movie had been restored in high definition. But when the movie opens the picture quality is not even up to scratch for DVD standard let alone HD. Now I'm assuming the reason for this is that a lot of the problem with the original film is dirt and marks on the original animation cells and not the actual film stock. So unless each frame is digitally altered you'll never get a perfect HD transfer.

I also didn't much care for Susan Tyrrell's uncredited narration. She sounds flat, uninterested and it's hard work keep your mind from wandering as she waffles on and on.

Extras include an audio commentary with the director; Ralph Bakshi - The Wizard of Animation (34 min, 13 sec interview with Bakshi which provides some interesting information, especially in regard to Bakshi's friendship with George Lucas and the reason why Wizards didn't do quite as well at the box office after Star Wars opened); 2 x Trailers; TV Spots; and Stills Gallery.

While this movie is interesting from an historical point of view, it's certainly not one that you'll feel compelled to dig out and watch very often,

4

Darren Rea