Ralph Bakshi's Wizards

Looks like nobody cares!

I'll be getting out the Vaughn Bode comics to get in the mood.

-Bill

The caps of the UK BD look promising. I love 'old' animation films with actual film grain in them just like they had when they were first shown in theaters.

I care. Saw this in the theater a few times.

My wife might raise an eyebrow at it though.

Did you show her Heavy Metal?

Good news. Even though the film ends abruptly and isn't as long as the Jackson trilogy, I much prefer the screenplay in the Bakshi version over Jackson's. When I watch the Bakshi LOTR I am not overcome with that feeling of nausea and depression which permeates my soul while watching Jackson's LOTR. John Hurt's Aragorn puts Jackson's weak and irresolute version to shame.

Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest. Actually, I'm not sorry.

She wasn't interested.

We have a failure to communicate here.

-Bill

Don't I feel stupid.

I remember seeing "Wizards" as the B movie in a double bill with Cannonball Run at some hideous time in the past , probably 78 or 79.

Canonball Run just seemed fantastically boring after Wizards!

For what it's worth, I agree with you that Jackson's Tolkien could have been considerably better. It's way too much to get into and off topic here, but the scriptwriters are to blame. I don't fault the actors or effects so much.

I don't recall much about Bakshi's LOTR.

-Bill

The shots where the camera does the funny zoom on the road (when the hobbits hide from the first wraith) and then when the Ring Wraiths stab the empty beds are lifted straight from Bakshi's version. Also, Frodo's crossing of the river (post-stabbing) is MUCH better.

Last of the Mohicans , Michael Mann....LOTR ...thats what I want to have happened in an alternative universe somewhere.

You may have meant this, but I remember reading that Jackson said he did that as an intentional homage.

I thought Bakshi's version with the wraiths' appearance out of the shadows before stabbing the hobbits' beds was a much better and more dramatic and frightening interpretation of the scene.

Hardly wife material, then, I'd say...

I've done nothing but put off the UK release for one reason or another, so getting it in a fancy, glossy digibook is a nice incentive to stop being so forgetful. I love the film, even if it's far from Bakshi's best.

Taken out of context maybe. Anime and more "adult" animation is about the only movie genre she isn't just as enthusiastic about as I am, and pretty much only things that have exposed female character "parts" at that. She loves Ghibli stuff.

And tolerates/enjoys our family room being approximately 40% speakers by volume.

Better wife material for me would be absurdly unlikely.

She's never seen Wizards though, so I might be able to get her to watch it.

I was just kidding, I'm sure she's lovely. That said, my own wife's reaction to Heavy Metal always makes me laugh: "Geez, I thought there'd be boobs every five seconds! This is so boring..."

With any luck Shout! Factory has figured out the legal quagmire preventing COONSKIN's home video release and we can finally have a proper release of what I think is Bakshi's best film.

True only every five minutes, but I thought you wrote she was not interested'.

Nope, that was Brandon's wife who wasn't interested. Mine was just disappointed it wasn't as over the top as my affection for it had left her expecting.

The caps looks very similar to the UK version which also had film grain in it, looks quite promising even if not perfect:

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Wizard.../36536/#Review

I love animation with film grain in it.

I somehow missed this thread... just like I missed this film's existence.

I am a fan of the Lord of the Rings, I saw it as a kid in a movie theater that I ultimately worked in as a teenager. I know it has some holes in it, and frustrating that it never was completed... but I happily bought the Blu-ray release on day one.

Meanwhile... I stumbled on Wizards while looking for DigiBook releases. I've never seen or heard of this movie, but am wondering if it is something I would enjoy as a fan of the Lord of the Rings adaption from roughly that same time period.

I like DigiBooks... and the Bakshi animation style has a weird attraction to me... but I know virtually nothing of the story of this movie.

It's epic fantasy but not exactly heroic. More wry, but also violent and a bit cruel. I haven't seen it for many years but that is what I recall.

Very reminiscent of Vaughn Bode comics, if anyone remembers him.

-Bill

I recognize the name... but can't say I have read any of his comics.

I may put Wizards on the back-burner and wait to see if there is another DigiBook sale at some point.

While there are some LOTR influences in Wizards, the story itself is not in the same vein at all and is of lighter fare. It's more like the Hobbit if anything.

I wish Disney did

I remember seeing part of this movie as a child when we had On-TV.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ON-TV

I was quite happy with the UK BDs quality. Like all of Bakshis work, it's never going to look clean. Wizards, LOTR, and Fire & Ice all have a very similar rough look to them on Blu-ray. Though very film like, which is all I personally want.

I'll pick this new BD up sometime soon. I've had such a weird fascination with Bakshis work my whole life. It's not that they're great films, they just have a very unique quality to them that I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe it's nostalgia. Who knows. I'm not an art collector, but I happily bought a beautiful original production Cel of Necron 99 from the film a few years ago, direct from Bakshis family run website. As someone mentioned, the Bode inspired animation is just so interesting IMO.

I think it just that, at their time, they were cooler than everything else animated (that I was aware of in the U.S.). That was it for me anyway.

I have a brief review and thumbnails here. I used the imported edition because I found it for a few dollars less.

I'll have Bakshi's Lord of the Rings next week in the same thread.

-Bill