This thirty-four minute featurette allows the delightfully brash and opinionated Ralph Bakshi to not only talk about how he grew up as a comic book fan in Brooklyn and his first job for the Terrytoons animation studio polishing animation cells, but also gives Bakshi the opportunity to take a few fierce potshots at Disney (he claims you have to be perfect in order to work for Disney). Bakshi notes that he had done four edgy urban autobiographical movies prior to "Wizards," which he did as a PG-rated fantasy film intended for the whole family. Moreover, Bakshi reveals that George Lucas suggested Mark Hamill for the voice of Sean, Susan Tyrell's manager requested that Tyrell receive no on-screen credit for narrating the picture, he had to use rotoscoped stock footage out of absolute necessity because he didn't have the money to completely animate the battle scenes, the original title for "Wizards" was "Wizard Wars" (it was changed at Lucas's request to avoid confusion with "Star Wars"), and that "Wizards" was pulled out of theaters after only two weeks so that "Star Wars" could play on more theater screens. In addition, Bakshi admits that he's afraid of too much technology, saw that terrorism was right around the corner in the 1970's, and he prefers animation done with heart over slickness. Full of clips and production sketches from "Wizards," it's essential viewing for Bakshi buffs.
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