Wizards

Ralph Bakshi's animated sword-and-sorcery tale is a long way from his best work, marred by cut-rate techniques and a shapeless screenplay.

Moderate fun here and there.

Mr. Bakshi's allegory is fairly obvious from the outset, but he and his animators are convincingly professional. They have devised a melange of animation and live footage that gives their feature mystical, slightly scary and, occasionally, comic tones.

Trippy yet fascinating piece of animation history

Even accounting for its messiness, Wizards possesses a genuine, idiosyncratic personality.

What is at least galavanising and shocking in the context of Bakshi's earlier films seems more like an out-of-control tic here.

There are moments of beauty, but it's a far cry from Fantasia.

If Wizards is a failure, then it's a fascinating failure.

Bakshi is direct in his imagery and his messaging: the drumbeat of war and the rush of new technology is killing us...Wizards is far more than a simple animated curiosity, but a surprisingly dark, dangerous, and compelling piece of fantasy.

Bakshi's filmmaking is sloppy and slapdash at times, to be sure, but it is also uncompromising.