Ralph Bakshi has, over the years, earned a sort of reputationb as being a counterculture genius. Yet, as near as I can tell, he has never actually made anything good, and most things he’s produced have been a big pile of poop. Jut some of his offenses against the human race include:
COOL WORLD, his 1992 magnum opus widely considered to be among the worst films ever made. If you’ve ever seen “Battlefield Earth” that’s how bad “Cool World” was. Maybe worse.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS, the disastrous 1978 adaptation that ended halfway through and sucked anyway, though to be fair the catastrophe was not entirely Bakshi’s fault.
FRITZ THE CAT, sort of an animated X-rated Animal House, or something. I guess it wasn’t terrible.
In fairness, “American Pop” was okay, but it wasn’t as good a movie as “Galaxy Quest” and I don’t know anyone who even KNOWS who directed “Galaxy Quest.”
I don’t see anything about Bakshi’s animation that’s either interesting or cutting edge. His thing for years was Rotoscoping, which is essentially the cartoon version of tracing. The vast majority of his films have been crap.
Yet, somehow, Bakshi maintains an aura of being a counterculture genius who’s been ousted from the entertainment mainstream by The Man. Why?
RickJay, I’m with you on this one. I keep scratching my head wondering just what is so wonderful about Bakshi’s stuff. Oh, and you forgot to add Wizards to the list of awful movies.
On the plus side, Bakshi animated the original Spiderman TV series, and I always liked watching that. Still, you are absolutely correct: the vast majority of his films have been crap.
You left out Fire and Ice, Wizards, and the Mighty Mouse cartoons.
Bakshi was a genius because of the cell animated cartoons. He was among the first to actually animate over people really moving. The animation at the time was very cutting edge as the people moved more realistically. Also, their chins actually moved when they talked. That still is a bit odd even for today. The stories weren’t necessarily great but the animation is what really made him popular.
Personally, I like his stories too even though they aren’t very sophisticated typically.
Fritz the Cat was generally well received at the time, but I’d agree that his other works have been spotty. Cool World was egregiously bad (though not at bad as Battlefield Earth.
His reputation is based on Fritz; the idea of an x-rated cartoon seemed very cutting edge in 1972. He also seems to be a big self-promoter.
Rent “Wizards” his pre-Lord of the Rings animated movie. Borrowed many elements and in some ways is a superior movie. Nice tight fantasy/SF crossover story with a groundbreaking mix of action and genre-twisting that is dang fun to watch. Bakshi has broken many rules in animating and some of his ideas work and some didn’t. But he tried. He did not just sit at a desk and content himself with drawing Pound-Puppie cartoons or some such drek.
He made “Lord of the Rings” when everyone said you could never make a movie out of it. Oh yeah? well he did it. To those who have fun saying that it was a big stinky-poop of a movie there are those of us who liked it alot. My friends and I still quote some of the dialogue to get a laugh and I for one think that his animated Aragorn is way more kingly than Vigo. Flaws, sure. You try and make a feature animated film from a beloved fantasy feature with 1970’s resources. And to continue my rant pro-Bakshi anyone notice how darn simular the entire Bree-Nazgul ambush scenes looked alike in the 2 movies? And the flight to the ford? At least Ralph didn’t elevate a minor female elf to a leading warrior-princess charactor. Sheesh.
One final word with which to cement the label genius…
Max Fleischer did indeed invent rotoscoping (and patened the process in 1917). This page discusses the origins, and indicates that Bakshi has been criticized for relying on it too much.
It’s a given in the animation trade at rotoscoping is a crutch and should be avoided. That explains why Waking Life never had a chance of getting an animation Oscar nomination last year – it was just high-tech rotoscoping.
The Rotoscope that I remember was simply a carousel that one could look through when it was spinning? If he wasn’t the first to do it he was the first to master it.
I was just in Borders bookstore, and saw that there was a new The Onion book out. This edition is a bunch of A.V. Club interviews, and there’s one with Bakshi from December 2000.
He’s a complete asshole. He’s arrogant, ignorant and snobbish. He considers his LOTR to be brilliant, and laughed at the suggestion that there was a live version in the making. Said that if the director knew what was good for him, he’d view Bakshi’s version every day of filming. Granted, this was December 2000, but you’d think he’d have the slightest of clues as to what was going on for the piece that his name is most synonymous with.
I recommend taking a gander at it, just to get an idea of the egoism going on with this guy.
Who cares what a movie director, actor or animator has to say in an interview? If I enjoyed the book or movie or cartoon that’s enough for me. I don’t care if Mr. Bakshi walks around town in his underwear screaming “Kill the whales!” Do they care what we think about when we’re not enjoying their artistic entertainment product?
Personally, I’d say his four best best films – * Fritz the Cat * (okay, Robert Crumb sued to have his name removed from the project, but I don’t care), * Heavy Traffic, Wizards, * and * Coonskin * aka * Streetfight * – are all very worthwhile, though I don’t consider any of them spectacular achievements as either cinema in general or animation in particular.
But he should have left * Lord of the Rings * alone. * Cool World * was more mediocre than bad, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who doesn’t have a thing for animation. I hate * American Pop, * though I can’t explain why. Never saw * Hey, Good Lookin’ * or * Fire and Ice . *
Four good films out of ten or eleven. That’s not bad. Lots of filmmakers don’t even achieve that.
Are you kidding? Wizards is the biggest letdown, slowest moving catoon movie ever. The “cross-overs” you so ignobly praise were about the dumbets thing since sliced bread. I’ve seen low budget TV shows that handled mixes better.
