This was a strange movie. I am not sure what to think of it. The animation is done like a children's cartoon. If the PG-13 rating had existed in 1977 this film would probably have got it.
Did anybody else find it kind of odd that Avatar ends up shooting Blackwolf with a gun, ala the sword fight scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark? You're expecting some sort of drawn-out battle but he just shoots him.
Also with the most hated instrument of war. Wasn't the point AGAINST technology?
I don't pay attention to the film as a political message or anything like that. Everybody knows this film is corny as hell and way too silly. (too bouncy, and I mean that literally) If Bakshi fails in everything else, I look at the overall innovation in animation styles. The rotoscoped shadow warrior footage, the reflecting shields (yes, they stand out too much, and for the worse, but probably one of the few times you'll ever see that in an animated film), and the use of stills. (the only time I ever saw that otherwise was on anime series on a budget. This, however, uses stills effectively for the beginning and end)
You have to love that line he says before he shoots him. "There was a trick my ma taught me that you didn't learn... let's see... what was it..? ...oh yeah... I sure am glad you changed your last name, you son-of-a-bitch!" Overall, that whole confrontation is hilarious and definitely not to be taken seriously.
"Watching TV shows don't create psycho killers. Cancelling TV shows creates psycho killers!"
No the point of the film is to show the evil of propaganda, and the neutrality of technology. Technology can be used for good or evil, its all in the intent of the user.
And yes the movie is silly, but thats the "message", and besides the movie is just fun!
I am not so sure about that. The narrator in the intro to the film sets up that it is the story of technology vs magic. Technology is clearly evil in this world. If the gun symbolizes anything, I believe it is meant as the villain being undone by his own obsession- in this case technology. Very common to have the villain "die by irony" in literature and film.
shareActually, the full lines are...
"Let me tell ya. I ain't practiced much magic for a long time. I want to show you a trick mother showed me when you weren't around. To use on special occasions like this. Ah, oh yeah, one more thing... I'm glad you changed your last name you son of a bitch." *BLAM!*
Classic lines! :) You can see that scene in this music vid. Enjoy!
http://www.ifilm.com/video/2713526
--Dancougar
"Did anybody else find it kind of odd that Avatar ends up shooting Blackwolf with a gun"
The first time I saw it when I was 12 I did. But then I saw it again, I figured it was that Avatar realized 1) that he didn't want a long drawn out battle and 2) he realized love, magic, and peace couldn't win.
2 months till Wizards comes to DVD!
It's important to note the gun Avatar used to shoot Blackwolf was a GERMAN LUGER. Evil destroyed by it's own devices.
shareI for one found it very ironic that Avatar calls Black Wolf, HIS BROTHER, a son of a bitch. See also Jack Nicholson's trivia page.
"I've been living off toxic waste for years, and I'm fine! Just ask my other heads!"
"Did anybody else find it kind of odd that Avatar ends up shooting Blackwolf with a gun?"
That was the point. It was an ironic gesture. A wizard who's sole purpuse is to destroy his brother, to revive and retore magic to the world and to vanquish technology and his brother's evil influence.
Also, if viewers do not take this as a propaganda film then they have no right expressing their feelings about it because Wizards is, plain a simple, a propaganda film. Ralpha Bakshi's Fritz The Cat saga and Wizards and revolutionary. Not in the world of animated films but in the current present world we live in.
Why would Blackwolf have a giant Swastika on hsi carpet? Why is he using old forgotten (lost) footage of Hitler and the destruction he caused to many as a means of destroying anything and everything that is pure, and/or good?
It's a propaganda film.
I was once told that if you repeat something enough time, it stays with you. I mentioned propaganda four times now. You all better remember that. And some might need to seek a dictionary...
for another good film, "The Bicycle Thief". Directed by Vittorio De Sica.
My question is:
Who's a better dictator, Hitler or Blackwolf?
PS Throughout the film, Blackwolf's cronies refer to him as the Fuhrer (sp?). Anyone else catch this?
"I've been living off toxic waste for years, and I'm fine! Just ask my other heads!"
They call him the Fuhrer because Adolf was the Fuhrer. It is obviously heard when watching the film. Only morons, like people who don't underdtand that this is a propaganda film, do not notice these wonderful quirks. I am not refering to you because you caught up on it. 0_<
It's just another layer to add on the fact that Bladkwolf is much like Hitler. He even uses footage of Hitler and has raised the Swastika, yet again.
It's a terrific film.
Someone isn't a moron for not realizing that a movie is nodding to an old historical event, no matter how popular it is/was. A moron, by definition, can be likened to a mental retard. I only saw this movie twice. It taught me the proper way to watch a Bakshi film.
"I've been living off toxic waste for years, and I'm fine! Just ask my other heads!"
Intrestingyou say that. There is a way to watch Bakshi movies and I think that its because few people recognize that, that he is not as popular as he could/should be.
shareYou keep repeating that this is a proganda film and call people morons who don't see it as a propaganda film as moron's why? The definition you are using for propaganda could mean any movie that pushes a political agenda, or for that matter any agenda, in other words ANY *beep* MOVIE COULD BE PROPAGANDA. So stop calling people morons for not realizing that Wizards is a propaganda film.
5 Days till Wizards comes to DVD!
wizards isn't a propaganda film... it's an anaolgy to WWII.
NOT propaganda.. the films around DURING WWII were propaganda (like the bugs bunny episode where he calls japanese 'slant eyes, and japs' you can probably find it on youtube or something.. i know WB got in a *beep* of trouble for it. (obviously).
but yea wizards is just an analogy not propaganda. propaganda is used to attempt to convince the public of something.
wizards wasn't trying to convince the viewer of anything (except maybe hitler was bad? lol kind of obvious) because by YOUR misguided definition of propaganda (as someone said earlier) anything can be considered propaganda... according to you.
just an FYI anyone else realize that LOTR (the books) was an analogy for WW1?
There is no government like NO government
Still playing the role of the idiot, Kazin19? It's not a total analogy. It's funny how you even type 'was an analogy for WWI'.
What you see is not necessarily what you get,
Not trying is dying, keep trying unto death....
im amazed (as always) there's so many people on here that waste so much time doing nothing but insulting other comments instead of just voicing their opinion.
FYI.. no it (Wizards) is not a 'play by play' style anaolgy. but it's definently not a propaganda piece.
Also just curious to anyone out there... Anyone know of any other similar themed movies? (post apocalyptic/dystopian style themes).
and yes im already aware of 1984 and brave new world. Films didn't do the novels justice.
There is no government like NO government
Wizards wasnt a "propaganda film"... as you keep insisting.
I suggest you take that dictionary of yours and look up the word "allegory"...
perhaps it will give you some useful insight as to what the film really was.
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Which is why, of course, he says right before that phrase, "I sure am glad you changed your last name, you son-of-a-bitch!" (right before it, he mentions it's a trick his mother taught him)
"Leave the limbs you've lost. They belong to me now."
I still don't get it.
"I've been living off toxic waste for years, and I'm fine! Just ask my other heads!"
"I sure am glad you changed your last name, you son-of-a-bitch!"
A female wolf is a bitch, so I think that's the point of Avatar's comment.
Is there a reason why, if you hated this film so much, you chose to bother to take your sweet and very important time to dumb down other people's rather more informed posts with your pitiful drivel?. And if you did feel the need to express some steam about how awful and stupid this classic piece of animation is, why, why, why did you not create your own silly, unwanted, misguided, and unintelligable post just for yourself and any other idiots that want to waste more of their wonderful time?
"I'm lovely!"
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I have always thought that the reason Avatar shoots him is because, as others on this thread have speculated, it's "evil dying by its own instrument." It could also be interpreted as a case of "Live by the sword, die by the sword." Avatar is giving Blackwolf a taste of his own medicine. Blackwolf brought death and destruction to Fairyland via technology, and the best form of justice is for him to be killed by one of his own weapons.
He was also extremely distraught by Elinore's percieved treachery, and was expecting to die anyway (remember his line to Weehawk before going in to confront Blackwolf?) So it could have been a case of "let's get this over with - I don't want to waste magic on this bastard, I want him dead."
It could also be that Avatar is a crafty old trickster who just shot Blackwolf because it was the one attack he would not have expected, and it caught him completely off guard.
It could also be that Avatar is a crafty old trickster who just shot Blackwolf because it was the one attack he would not have expected, and it caught him completely off guard.
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don't you ever open your mouth again as long as you are on this post!
if you want to so much as say the name "Ralph Bakshi", you better sure as hell go watch the film before you comment on it!
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touche, stillravenmad...
the point is, you;d be hard pressed to find a parallel between this scene and the bombings of Nagasaki or Hiroshima.
Believe what you want, but I think it's just a villain getting what was coming to him.
Point well made. I saw this in a theater the first time. There was an audible gasp from the audience when he drew the luger.
Completely unexpected and it worked.
I would also suggest that part of Avatar's strategy was that he was no longer Blackwolf's match when it came to magic. He resorted to technology as a "necessary evil" to bring an end to Blackwolf's evil.
Avatar using a handgun to defeat Blackwolf never confused me. What I found most significant is the way Avatar says it was a trick Mom showed him. It adds sort of a dark side to the queen of fairies who appeared to be innocent of all wicked thoughts and knowledge of technology, at least as the short montage at the beginning indicates. Now you see her as a woman who conspired to use a dirty trick involving technology in order to get one son to murder the other. No wonder Blackwolf went to live with the mutants.
Fear is the Mind Killer
The story line is interesting but the animation is definitely off putting, ragemanchoo. It reminds me of 'School House Rock' style of animation. I dislike it. Ragemanchoo, Wizards precedes Raiders of the Lost Ark. Little Miso, somewhat, reflects how I regard the execution of visual style Ralph Bakshi employs.
What you see is not necessarily what you get,
Not trying is dying, keep trying unto death....
Well, he hadn't practiced magic in a long time. And it DID work.
Kind of a neat moral too.