Fire and Ice (1983)

A king's land is under an impending threat from an ice lord and his army. After his daughter is kidnapped a warrior assists the princess to reunite her with her people.Like Ralph Bakshis' The Lord of the Rings (1978), Fire and Ice has plenty of atmosphere, it actually oozes it but it's dispensable story leaves it lacklustre given its similarities to other tales. It also appears unusual that the sub character, namely Darkwolf is more fleshed out than the main lead Larn. That said, there's some nice fantasy elements notably the sub-human ape-like beings, flying dragon hawk-like creatures and sorcerers to name a few.Given the adult nature of the film it may have been rounded by more blood splatter and Cynthia Leake/ Maggie Roswell (voice) Teegra either being topless through-out or less scantly clad as she almost becomes a titillating distraction.That said, there's no shortage of ambiance with wonderful background paintings on display. The rotoscope technique and animation give it a magical unearthly feel. The Teegra flesh on display and a Conan-esque witch scene that makes it worth a viewing alone. Yes it's flawed but it's also visually masterfully crafted.

"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

Don't get fooled by the lower rating of this animated movie. This is one of the most under rated animated movies I have seen so far. Just by seeing screen shots, I decided to watch the movie. I thought its rating would be more than 8 and I was quite shocked to see the lower rating here. This movie is totally as I thought it would be. Its a battle between fire and ice, love and hatred, peace and chaos. I like all the main characters including negative character 'Nekron'. All the characters were portrayed beautifully and carefully. The movie was interesting enough to watch in one go without being bored for a moment. It was dramatic, it was romantic, it was passionate and also sometimes violent and cruel; It was epic. Above all, this movie also provides good lesson. I will always remember it as an exceptional great animated movie.

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.