Ralph Bakshi - Legacy

Legacy

In 2003, Bakshi received a Maverick Tribute Award at the Cinequest San Jose Film Festival. The same year, he started the Bakshi School of Animation and Cartooning. As of 2009, it is run by Jess Gorell with Edward Bakshi, his son. The availability of Bakshi's work on the Internet sparked a resurgence of interest in his career, resulting in a three-day American Cinematheque retrospective held at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and the Aero Theater in Santa Monica, California, in April 2005. Unfiltered: The Complete Ralph Bakshi, a hardcover book of Bakshi's art, was released on April 1, 2008. The foreword was written by Quentin Tarantino and the afterword by Bakshi.

The Online Film Critics Society released a list of the "Top 100 Animated Features of All Time" in March 2003 that included four of Bakshi's films: Fritz the Cat, The Lord of the Rings, Coonskin and Fire and Ice. Fritz the Cat was ranked number 56 in the 2004 poll conducted by Britain's Channel 4 for its documentary The 100 Greatest Cartoons. The Museum of Modern Art has added Bakshi's films to its collection for preservation.

Gore Verbinski commented about Ralph Bakshi and showed that he was inspired by him during an interview in The Hollywood Reporter for his first animated movie, Rango. Saying "What happened to the Ralph Bakshis of the world? We're all sitting here talking family entertainment. Does animation have to be family entertainment? Audiences want something new; they just can't articulate what".