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.

hellraiser7 Fantasy has been the first genre I got into when I was a child and animation was the first outlet for it. Animation and the fantasy genre really do suit each other hand in hand since animation has always carried a broader creative freedom in the visual medium that only live action can only hope to match. This is one of my favorite animated films of all time and it's my favorite film from one of my favorite animated directors Ralph Bachi.This film was just a dream come true since as a kid I was into the cartoon show "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" but also read some of the "Conan" comics, so you can guess how psyched I was watching this.This film is pretty much a straightforward fantasy action adventure, which is fine by me sometimes the best fantasy stories for me are ones that are simple and just being what they should be escapist fun.The animation is just fantastic and I personally things holds up today in my book anyway. Let alone the fact it's been done by Frank Rashatta whom did the art and cover art for "The Savage Sword of Conan", "Vampiera", and "Tarzan" all three I like which makes this film all the more good. From the character and creature animation, but I'm more impressed with the background animation which successfully creates this lush and vast fantasy world that is reminiscent of the "Conan" stories but also some of the worlds in Edgar Rice Burroghs "Tarzan" stories. There are jungles, forests, ruins, temples and a whole lot of other things I don't want to give away, like in any great fantasy story it always made me wonder what more is in that world. I even like the movements of the characters which is realistic all due to the technique of rotoscoping, I thought it was used in this film well and right. It's kinda interesting seeing these characters move this way where in most common animated features the characters movements seem to vary or be uneven in pacing sometimes which is sort of weird when you think about it.The music is just spectacular and memorable, it's personally one of my favorite and I think underrated movie scores. The theme song is one of my personal favorites because it is exciting and has that epic action adventure feel to it.The story I think is great it's not a deep story but as I said before this is escapist fun and the fact that Roy Thomas whom is a writer for the "Conan" comics wrote is is great, it's a shame he didn't write for any more animated films because this film showed how capable he was. This I feel also give the film sort of a throwback feel of some of the pulp fantasy stories from long time ago, our need to excape from reality and dive into a realm away from the familiar and were anything is possible.Characters like the typical hero Larn and princess Teggra both are two dimensional and are simply there to serve their functions. If there is a character that stands out is Blackwolf whom is just awesome, I really like the design of him which might have been a partial inspiration to the caveman version of Batman in Grant Morison's graphic novel "Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne". He has some of the best lines but is just simply a man of action, as he is just kick butt and taking names in the film.Yeah, I know not deep characterization but we're in this film for the action and adventure. And this film's action is just great, it is well choreographed and the battle sequences are creative and different, like one of my favorite battles sequences is seeing the tribe of fire invading by flying in with Teradacdyls. The action sequences are also very violent which is awesome, we do see some blood, I wouldn't say a heavy amount but enough to satisfy. It's always awesome seeing in those sequences Darkwolf use that Axe of his which could make comic book hero "Ax Cop" eat his heart out as we see how well he handles it.Fire and Ice burns.Rating: 4 stars

amesmonde 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.

TheLittleSongbird I loved this as a kid, but seeing it as a 19 year old I did like it but don't love it. While the animation is great, some of the effects have a choppy look to them, but the story and script were the biggest problems. The action scenes are great and I liked the sense of fantasy but overall the story is basically a very overly-simplistic good vs. evil tale. The script is very cheesy and meandering. However, the animation is great, with beautiful backgrounds, strong colours and characters that are reasonably well modelled. The characters are engaging enough, nothing extraordinary, but at least effort is done to make us care for them. The music is both rousing and mystical. The voice acting is good considering what they had to work with. Overall, good but imperfect. 7/10 Bethany Cox