6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.3 |
Avatar is 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.
Starring: Bob Holt, Jesse Welles, Mark Hamill, Richard Romanus, David ProvalAnimation | 100% |
Sci-Fi | Insignificant |
Fantasy | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 16-bit)
Music: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Music: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz/16-bit); the Music track is an isolated music and effects audio track.
English SDH
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Often called the “bad boy of animation,” director Ralph Bakshi hit his stride in the 1970s making what you might call anti-Disney films, animated features aimed squarely at adults. Fritz the Cat, his breakthrough Robert Crumb adaptation—filled with anthropomorphized animals having sex and doing drugs—was the first animated film to be slapped with an X rating by the MPAA. (“He’s X-rated and animated!” went one tagline.) Self-penned follow-up Heavy Traffic kept the sex and introduced viewers to Bakshi’s own sense of blacker-than-coal satirical humor, with horny post- apocalyptic men humping piles of garbage and one character even shooting God—yes, good old uppercase G-O-D—in the head. And, of course, there was the controversial, racially-charged Coonskin, which used just about every stereotype and caricature imaginable to offend, well, just about everyone. (Bakshi attempted to confront racism head-on by toying with its most heinous imagery—blackface—but many, including, famously, the Reverend Al Sharpton, didn’t get the joke.) In an unexpected career move, Bakshi then pitched 20th Century Fox a family-friendly fantasy film called War Wizards—later shortened to Wizards to avoid confusion with Star Wars—hoping to expand his success to a broader mainstream audience. The film has since become an animated cult classic, but it’s far from Bakshi’s best.
Warner Brothers recently released Bakshi's animated version of Lord of the Rings on Blu-ray, and if you've seen that film, you'll have some idea of what to expect from U.K. distributor Eureka's treatment of Wizards. The fact is, Bakshi's films just don't have the fan base to financially support a meticulous frame-by-frame restoration, so unlike Disney films from the same era—which are miraculously revived in high definition—they're really going to show their age. This is certainly true for Wizards' 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer, based on a source print that's, nicked, scratched, and frequently salted and peppered with white and black specks. Aside from the print damage, though, which could've been fixed with enough time and money, most of the picture's visual peculiarities— what might unkindly be called defects—are actually problems with the original animation. The brightness of static images flickers on occasion, colors fluctuate within their cells, and foreground objects go unintentionally semi-transparent, allowing the backgrounds to be seen right through them. Some of the composite shots, mixing Nazi propaganda and animated characters, are also incredibly grainy and harsh. (There's an argument for Disney using DNR to clean up its films that goes something like this: Animation is essentially a pen, paint, and paper medium that's not inherently "filmic," so a true representation of the animator's craft would be to remove all grain from the image. But that's a discussion for another time.) Still, this Blu-ray, in all other respects, is an appreciable jump from the picture quality of the standard definition DVD. Outlines look sharper, edges are cleaner, and color is surprisingly vivid. Black levels are solid as well, and contrast looks tight. Since it's unlikely that Wizards will ever get a complete restorative overhaul, I'd say this release is definitely worth the upgrade.
There's really not as much to say about the film's DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo track, other than the fact that it reproduces the quality of the original audio well. Instead of trying to finagle 5.1 channels out of the stereo source elements, the focus here is on giving a clean, clear, lossless soundtrack, and in that regard, this release mostly succeeds. Some of the dialogue sounds slightly muffled and far away, and a few of the effects have a flat, lifeless quality, but there's really not much to complain about here. Obviously, considering when the film was made, bass response is noticeably lacking and the high-end sounds a little brittle and brash, but it is what is. Otherwise, Andrew Belling's synthesizer score sounds better than ever, and when Blackwolf rolls his armies into Montagar, the porn-y sounding proto-funk music kicks in nicely. This release also includes a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Music and Effects Only track, in case you want to listen more closely to the score. English SDH subtitles are available in easy-to-read letters.
Director's Commentary
Recorded for the DVD release of the film in 2004, Bakshi sits down to discuss Wizards, from
start to finish. If you've never heard an interview with him before, he comes off as self-aggrandizing
and defensive of his work, but this makes for a rather lively commentary.
Ralph Bakshi - The Wizard of Animation Featurette (SD, 34:15)
Also created for the 2004 DVD, this featurette is basically a "making of" documentary, as Bakshi
reminisces about the production, telling stories and giving insights into the technical process of
creating the film. There's some topical overlap with the commentary, but this is definitely worth
watching for fans.
Trailer 1 (SD, 1:01)
Trailer 2 (SD, 2:12)
TV Spot (SD, 00:31)
Stills Galleries
Includes individual galleries for Avatar, Blackwolf, Elves, Early Elinore Drawings, Elinore, Fairies,
Peace, Weehawk, Additional Characters, Animation Action, Environments, and Lobby Cards.
Wizards hasn't withstood the test of time as well as Ralph Bakshi's earlier, edgier films— neither has its follow-up, an animated version of Lord of the Rings—but the movie still has plenty of fans, who love it for its odd-ball characters, dark humor, and visual make due with the budget we've been given peculiarities. Despite the age-related print damage and limited audio elements, the film looks and sounds great on Blu-ray, and it's import-friendly to boot, able to be viewed on players from any region.
1981
1957
1983
Unleashed Extended Edition
2013
宇宙からのメッセージ / Uchū kara no messēji | Masters of Cinema
1978
1989
2009
2021
2012
ゴジラ対ヘドラ / Gojira tai Hedora / Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster
1971
1992
Premium Collection
1954
1987
2009
Director's Cut
2004
1976
2017
Hulk vs Thor / Hulk vs Wolverine
2009
2014
1986