n the years after a nuclear war wipes out all civilization on Earth, the world separates into two zones: a radioactive wasteland inhabited by hideous mutants and a pastoral fairyland inhabited by elves, pixies and other creatures left over by our magical past. All human science and technology is forbidden, seen as evil influences that helped destroy the world once before.
The balance of power is disturbed by the births of two brothers: Avatar (Holt), who embodies all that is noble and good, and the disfigured, demented Blackwolf (Gravers), who spends his childhood torturing animals and plotting world domination.
The two battle upon the death of their mother. Avatar triumphs, and Blackwolf flees into the mutant lands, vowing to return.
Cut to many years later. Blackwolf, now the unquestioned ruler of the radioactive lands, has revived the evil arts of science and technology, adopted the swastika as his symbol and produced an ancient weapon capable of rendering even the most powerful opposing army helpless before him. It's a movie projector, loaded with newsreel footage of World War II. The elf armies who have always driven his forces back before are rendered paralyzed with fear at the images of ancient weaponry, rendering them easy prey for Blackwolf's legions, a force comprised of both radioactive mutants and demons recruited from hell itself.
The world's only hope? The now-aged Avatar, who joins the elf warrior Weehawk (Romanus), the giggly and bosomy elf queen Elinore (Welles) and the robotic assassin Peace (David Proval) on a quest to destroy the movie projector and defeat Blackwolf once and for all.
Sophomoric metaphors and imagery
Very much an artifact of its time, bearing a facile anti-technology message odd indeed for an artist whose very medium of choice, animation, is by its very nature entirely dependent on technology, Wizards is a mixed bag indeed, melding the most generic of fantasy tropes with rare moments of genuine visual genius. Its use of a technique called rotoscoping to transform old newsreel footage into rampaging mutant armies, while obvious covering for a limited budget, is nevertheless visually engaging when it's used in moderation, making it a pity indeed that the movie does not.
The Nazi metaphor is strained to the point of offensiveness, especially in scenes where Blackwolf's minions refer to him as Fuhrer, and another where a mutant rips the meat from a carcass bearing a Jewish star. Bakshi no doubt saw these elements as cutting-edge satire, and they might have seemed profound indeed to an audience capable of being impressed by the daring presentation of a cartoon princess with protruding nipples. But really: Subsequent animated features, like The Lion King and Antz, have played their fascism metaphors with much more subtlety and wit. The Nazi imagery in Wizards now plays as cheap and sophomoric.
The movie is also a prime example of that hoary genre known as the shaggy-dog story, which obliges audiences to sit through a long and drawn-out narrative only to render the whole thing pointless with a punchline that renders everything that happened beforehand meaningless. In this case, the good wizard who has argued against the use of ancient weapons to defeat his evil brother finally catches up to his lifelong enemy, endures the usual villainous rant to the effect that he is not powerful enough to prevail, acknowledges that he is indeed not as powerful as he used to be, then says, "I sure am glad you changed your last name, you son of a bitch," and shoots the bad wizard dead with a Luger. It's a terrific little joke, reminiscent of the way Indiana Jones later took out the Arab swordsman in Raiders of the Lost Ark. But though it makes the film, it also underlines the B.S. quotient in everything that came before.
The characters are a mixed bag, too. Avatar is enjoyable enough. He speaks and acts like Peter Falk playing Columbo. Elinore is just giggly and vapid, a character defined less by her personality than by her bosoms. Weehawk is a straight man of persuasive heroism but not much else. The cannon fodder among the bad guys are more interesting, as they pause the action for comedic interludes of variable effectiveness. The funniest of these may involve an attempt to negotiate with the local clergy for the fate of POWs, as the two little old rabbis turn out to be manic to the point of insanity.
It's not an entirely unsuccessful movie. There are set pieces of great beauty and moments that are genuinely funny. But it emerges as an entertaining and infuriating failure.
