Fire and Ice

• Directed by Ralph Bakshi
• January 18, 1983 (Avoriaz Film Festival) / August 19, 1983 (US)
• Based on characters created by Ralph Bakshi and Frank Frazetta

Voice Cast

• Princess Teegra-Maggie Roswell
• Darkwolf-Steve Sandor
• Nekron-Stephen Mendel
• Jarol-Leo Gordon
• Larn, Taro-William Ostrander
• Juliana-Susan Tyrell
• Roleil-Elizabeth Lloyd Shaw
• Otwa-Micky Morton
• Tutor-Clare Nono
• Monga-Big Yank
• Pako-Greg Elam
• Envoy-Alan Koss
• Defender Captain-Hans Howes
• Subhuman- Ray Oliver, Nathan Purdee, Le Tari

At the end of the Ice Age, a warrior fights back against an evil queen and her son who are set on conquering the world using magic and warriors.

When it first came out, I completely missed Fire and Ice. Not one commercial or vague mention from a friend with cool parents. I understand this is one of those things that has a strong fanbase and has been rather influential to many. That’s the reason I decided to watch it. It’s considered a Cult Classic fantasy film.

Fire and Ice is one of many Conan the Barbarian knockoffs spawned in the wake of that film’s success. Inspired by the paintings of Frank Frazetta it’s a work of art strung together by a thin story. It’s all about the monsters and the weirdness rather than building a the story. It is more focused on what the next fantasy element is they can introduce rather than building the narrative. Unlike Conan it has no strong characters representing distinct points of view.

I found the dialogue a little rough. The screenplay was written by Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas who both are legends in the comics industry. Given the aesthetic and that both contributed stories to Conan’s early Marvel days, the characters should have spoken more authentically or distinctly. Then again they were involved in the divisive Conan the Destroyer so there’s that.

Dialogue tells you who the characters are so they stand apart in your mind. What we get here does little to separate Larn and Darkwolf. Do we really need two significant warriors in one fantasy movie? Both had important standing in the film. The villain Nekron is really disinterested in his evil mechanizations and would probably not do much of anything if it was not for the incessant prodding of his mother.

The hero-whoever that may be-and the villain are never really set on a collision course. Any number of characters introduced along the way could’ve been used in the final confrontation. No one or two individuals are forced from the start into a battle that can only end one way.

Nobody really stands out. The evil guys are just evil. The good guys are kind of good. At 90 minutes there aren’t that many characters but because so much time gets used for visuals there’s nothing really distinct about any of the characters. The voiceover work fits with the late 70s early 80s Saturday morning animation vibe that this movie has which is a bit of a plus.

As a story, this is maybe 45 minutes at best worth of narrative stretched out into 90 minutes. It’s all visuals and little story. There’s no building towards a climax. I’m not even sure who the main hero is. Is it the blonde guy Larn? Is it Darkwolf who looks like the meme of the guy with a cat on his head being Batman? Is the main villain Nekron or his nag of a mom? 

This famously uses rotoscoping. Originally for the process animators traced over motion picture footage frame by frame to produce realistic action. It has been replaced by computers today. The original version as employed here is not a technique I’m a fan of. It’s one thing to use models to be able to draw appropriate poses but this is limiting in creating animation that interacts well with the background elements and just conveys whatever you’re attempting to convey. They went so far as to include the flatness of the floor the reference actors were moving on rather than hint at grass.

Of course there is a princess to be saved. Princess Teegra barely has any clothing on. She’s dressed like a stripper who got her sexy princess costume from the adult store. And she bought it right after her boob job. Was this aimed at horny teenage boys? She does not need a burqa. Just something closer to practical.

I really wanted to adore Fire and Ice. If it had been cut down a little bit and shown as a TV special it would’ve been much better but is narratively bland with ill-working animation.