Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Leofwine_draca FIRE AND ICE is an animated sword and sorcery epic from director Ralph Bakshi, and as a film it's a real treat to watch. This movie features unheralded realistic animation of the main characters, achieved by a motion capture process in which real actors were used to capture the movements of the figures, then transformed into 2D drawings. It's very similar to the motion capture used for modern day CGI, but to my mind it's even more effective than that.The story is a good mix of CONAN THE BARBARIAN style heroic action with QUEST FOR FIRE-style setting and backdrop. The hand-drawn mountains are quite lovely to behold, while the central figures are lithe and realistic, reminiscent of the art of Boris Vallejo. The character of Teegra, for instance, would have delighted any teenage male viewer in terms of her voluptuous realism. The voice work is adequate. The action is intense and visceral, and the bad guys are suitably imposing, with one of them impressive enough to influence cinema until this day (check out HARDCORE HENRY if you don't believe me). Altogether this is a fine experience, and something of an instant favourite of mine.

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.

TheHande With Ralph Bakshi most of his films appear to be like two-edged swords. You'll get something awesome out of it but only if you put up with the silly and the unnecessarily cheezy. The Lord of the Rings was a great adaptation of the story which perhaps didn't always shine in the animation department.Fire and Ice is a great achievement from Bakshi from an animation point of view. The rotoscoping is a lot more detailed and the animation has a vibrant look to it. You still get some of the dull still-cells and slightly blurred background paintings but on the over-all the look has definitely gotten better since Bakshi's last fantasy epic. The animation has almost a realistic-naturalistic style to it, and unlike in LOTR where this style was often at odds with the actual content, here it enhances the film's unique atmosphere.Unfortunately the film fails to create a meaningful story out of its simple setting and in fact most of the characters' motivations are pretty blurred. Lorn and Tigra are easy cases but even the main villain Necron was difficult to follow not to mention That Guy with Furry Face Mask (also known as just 'That Guy'). Even though most of the voice actor's were appropriate, there are some odd quirks in the audio-department and Tigra especially sounds really terrible whenever she's screaming.However, I believe the film's inherent entertainment value outweighs its unnecessarily silly execution of the plot-line. The scant clad of the characters is something you'll never get over but it helps you remind yourself that perhaps this film isn't even intended to be taken too seriously. It's still a hella cool and really funny.

MisterWhiplash Watching Fire and Ice for the first time reminded me of my experience seeing 300 last year. It wasn't at all a bad movie, certainly not average, but its plotting and dialog stuck out as being at best conventional and at worst kind of confusing and one-dimensional (which, perhaps as based on Frank Miller's comic book, was the right decision to go with). But its primary strengths drew from the intense action and bloody battles and having that jolt of a 14 year old feeling watching beefcake men fighting in bloody sword-led combat, with the occasional freaky creature or super-hot female to go with the painterly surroundings. While I would probably re-watch Fire and Ice before 300 again, they both aroused that similar feeling - the exception this time being, naturally, that it's Frank Frazetta, the infamous artist and designer of countless paperback books and comics, collaborating with director Ralph Bakshi, in what isn't typical Hollywood fare but something for the die-hard fans.What this means for audiences today going back to check out the film for the first time (it may now be coveted nostalgia for those who were young and watched it along with their Masters of the Universe VHS tapes back in the day) is the possible cons mentioned before and, maybe, that you will see something somewhat unique. Fire and Ice isn't even the only Bakshi rotoscoped feature, but it's possibly the most fluid- if not quite my personal favorite- of the few he made, and he and his team create a whole striking world that's part pre-historic, part out-of-this-world fantastic, and part medieval, and all touched up with a painters hand with respect to the backgrounds, the skies and grounds. There's a slight drawback for Bakshi fans in this facet of character design; Bakshi went as far as to say it's more Frazetta than him. This may be true, but it doesn't make it any more absorbing to the eye or curious in those moments where we don't see people killed or gutted in quick or slow motion (my favorite was the momentary skeleton-guide- how they rotoscoped that amazes me).I neglect describing the plot as it would defeat the purpose of really recommending it. If you're already a die-hard into this kind of style and approach of animation the plot will matter depending on what degree two warring factions or a 'damsel' or princess is in danger or a hero has to prove himself or yada yada, so suffice to say it's about, well, Fire against Ice, with characters named Nekron and Darkwolf (the coolest male of the lot and most comic-book in appearance) and Teegra (the typical hottie who's almost *too* perfect for the adolescent male fantasy figure). What the plot does do, as an asset, is allow a series of cliffhangers and suspense bits around the action, the progression of the danger in the oncoming big battle, like when the ogres are hunting after Teegra and have to contend with sudden crazy monsters and creatures popping out of tree trunks and lakes. And per usual for Bakshi, he conjures up some craziness (if not quite his usual inspired lunacy) in the midst of all of this straightforward fantasy material. If you've seen Wizards, you'll understand what I mean to a lesser extent.So, if you're an animation buff, seek this out right away for some 'old-school' (i.e. 1980s) action and incredible design. For everyone else, it's... good, not great, as I would say without fault about its logical 21st century extension, with some alterations, 300.