Scott LeBrun Two major artistic talents, controversial animator / filmmaker Ralph Bakshi ("Fritz the Cat") and renowned illustrator Frank Frazetta conceived this traditional fantasy quest. It doesn't tell a particularly *great* story, necessarily, but it is quite entertaining, and cuts to the chase readily. Its fast pacing results in a slick 82 minute run time, and its classic hand-drawn animation is noteworthy for the way that it was drawn over live action footage, resulting in movement that's more realistic than one might ordinarily see.A kingdom is in danger of being dominated by power-mad villainess Juliana (voice of Susan Tyrrell, "Forbidden Zone") and her equally demented son Nekron (voice of Stephen Mendel, "Scanner Cop II"). The many "sub human" minions of Nekron abduct Teegra (voice of Maggie Roswell, 'The Simpsons'), the shapely daughter of peaceable ruler King Jarol (voice of Leo Gordon, "The Haunted Palace"). In Teegras' attempt to get back home, she falls in with a lone warrior named Larn (voice of William Ostrander, "Christine"), and he in turn makes friends with a mystical character named Darkwolf (performed and voiced by beefy Steve Sandor, "Bonnie's Kids").This is all very pleasing to look at, with some inventive design. It's basically on a par with standard live-action versions of this sort of story, except that since it's animated, the filmmakers don't have to worry about trying to pull off effects practically, and they can let their imagination run wild. It's more violent and sexy than some people might expect, but is still tame compared to what one might see in live action. You do have to admire the writers (comic book veterans Roy Thomas & Gerry Conway) for contriving a way to keep Teegra in a bikini for the vast majority of that running time.You add to that mix some entertaining vocalizations (especially by Tyrrell), and a variety of cool animals and monsters, and it amounts to pretty good entertainment for the fantasy genre.Seven out of 10.

Woodyanders Brave and resourceful young warrior Larn not only vows to gets revenge on the evil Nekron after Nekron murders everyone in his village, but also attempts to rescue the beautiful princess Teegra from Nekron's foul clutches. The rugged and mysterious Darkwolf helps Larn out. Director Ralph Bakshi and noted illustrator Frank Frazetta are to be commended for not making this film a cutesy and wholesome piece of Disneyesque lightweight family fare; instead it's a dark and fairly gritty rough'n'tumble affair with a serious tone, startling moments of savage violence, vigorous and exciting action set pieces, and a funky array of odd and often lethal creatures (Nekron's simian subhuman flunkies in particular are pretty grotesque and detestable). The exquisitely fluid and vivid animation that was done with rotoscoping over live actors and actresses possesses a remarkably lifelike quality. The characters and the dangerous world they inhabit is designed with tremendous flair and imagination, with buff larger-than-life heroes, eminently loathsome baddies, and an incredibly gorgeous and voluptuous damsel in distress who isn't as helpless as she initially appears to be. Moreover, the basic simplicity of the story gives this movie a winningly unpretentious charm: Larn and Teegra make for appealing protagonists, Darkwolf rates as one amazing bad-ass dude, and Nekron sizes up as an exceptionally hateful and arrogant villain. The excellent voice work by the cast warrants extra kudos, with especially fine contributions from Steve Sandor as the formidable Darkwolf, Leo Gordon as kindly king Jarol, and Susan Tyrell as Nekron's venomous witch mother Juliana. Francis Grumman's robust orchestral score hits the rousing spot. William Kraft's crisp cinematography boasts neat occasional use of wipes. An extremely cool and enjoyable flick.

Rectangular_businessman "Fire and Ice" was a good animated flick, which I consider to be (along with "American Pop" and "Spicy City") one of the best works directed by Ralph Bakshi. Personally, I enjoyed this much more than his version of "The Lord of The Rings".Even when the story from "Fire and Ice" had many of the most clichés from the genre, it still was a highly entertaining animated adventure, which also had an impressive animation style (specially considering the time when this movie was made) with many beautiful sceneries and great character designs.I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes sword and sorcery films.7.5/10

tiger86-2 The title of my review says it all. I saw the movie yesterday and I enjoyed it but...BUT...The movie was - in fact - extremely stupid. And by saying "extremely stupid" I am actually being nice. I mean, it looks like a great fantasy adventure, it is very well animated, the action scenes are absolutely great...Sadly, the screenplay is absolutely horrible. It really is. 'Fire and Ice' is probably the most terribly written animated movie that I have ever seen, and I have sen a lot. The dialogue is just horrible. I saw the movie like 13 hours ago and I can barely remember what the characters were saying, and what I do remember is a few lines that sounded like they came straight out of some gamebook like the "Fighting Fantasy" books written by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson. The characterization... Well... There is just no such thing here. All characters depend on the way they were drawn, not on the way they were written. The "I Am Blonde And Brave" hero, the "I Am Here Just Because I Am Naked" princess, the "I Have Covered My Face With A Mask For No Reason At All And I Have An Ax" masked man with the ax, the "Look How Evil I Am MUHAHAHA" villain... You would know pretty much everything about every single character in the movie as soon as you saw them.The setting certainly looks nice. Everything is perfectly drawn. BUT... Well, if you are less than 14 years old boy you are probably going to love it. There are DINOSAURS! There is A KRAKEN! There are ORCS! There are AZTEC BUILDINGS!!! What is not to like? Well... It is just absurd. It looks nice but these things just don't go well together. Actually I would love it if it was relevant to the story but it just wasn't. The kraken, for example, appeared for less than a minute and it didn't add anything to the story. The Aztec buildings were there just because they look beautiful and for no other reason at all - no one event entered any of them. Etc.Now... I am going to stop with the criticisms and I am going to write what I liked about the movie. There is really a lot to be liked, especially when it comes to the quality of the animation. At that time there was no CGI-magic and everything had to be drawn by hand. Yet the characters are very detailed and their moves are extremely smooth. One can rarely see so well animated sword battles even in the finest Japanese anime movies. They move like real, living people, and by saying that I am not exaggerating at all. The fights are masterfully choreographed, the stunts are just stunning, and combined with the beautifully looking set designs the effect is just breathtaking. If that is what you like, see the movie. But if you want good characters, story and dialogue, look somewhere else. Really.