Fire and Ice (1983) Review

"If you're gonna kill the Ice Lord, boy, you better learn to live with pain."

Lets continue our Ralph Bakshi marathon with this fantasy adventure where a muscle-bound hero and his allies take on a powerful and evil queen and her minions; Fire and Ice.

From their citadel Icepeak, the evil queen Juliana and her son Nekron send forth a wave of glaciers; this forces humanity to retreat south towards the equator.
Nekron sends a delegation to Firekeep, the volcano citadel of king Jarol, ostensibly to request the king's surrender. In truth, the ice queen has orchestrated it as a ruse so that her subhuman troops can abduct Jarol's beautiful daughter, princess Teegra. Juliana feels that Nekron should take her as a bride to produce an heir.
Teegra escapes her captors and comes upon a young warrior named Larn, the only survivor of a village destroyed by Nekron's glaciers. The two grow close, but they become separated when Larn is attacked by a monstrous giant squid, and Nekron's subhumans recapture Teegra. She briefly escapes again, but runs into the witch Roleil and her son Otwa, who intend to use her as a bargaining chip for incurring Nekron's favor.
However, the subhumans simply kill them and take Teegra to Icepeak. Nekron refuses to marry Teegra, in spite of his mother's plan, but keeps the princess as a hostage.
While looking for Teegra, Larn encounters Darkwolf, a mysterious masked warrior who pursues a personal vendetta against Nekron and Juliana.
While Darkwolf holds off Nekron's horde, Larn continues his search and comes upon Roleil's remains, which briefly reanimate and tell him how to find the princess.
At the same time, Jarol sends his son and Teegra's brother, Prince Taro, to Nekron to bargain for Teegra's release. With Larn as a stowaway on their ship, Taro and his emissaries reach Icepeak.
Will Tarn be successful in his mission to rescue Teegra?

The story is mostly just alright as while it can be pretty generic and formulaic in terms of fantasy adventure stories, and it can be boring at times, the movie does have a good sense of adventure, the action scenes are pretty intense, there is some good heart and humor, the tone is pretty balanced as it can be fun and adventurous but also dark and glum, and there are a few things that are different compared to other fantasy adventures like this.
The action scenes are pretty solid as they can get pretty intense and suspenseful like the opening battle scene, Larn's escape from the subhumans, Larn's encounter with the wolves, Larn and Teegra being attacked by a giant squid, Darkwolf fending off the subhumans, Larn and Darkwolf's assault on Icepeak, Darkwolf fighting Nekron, and Larn rescuing Teegra.
The humor and heart of the movie are kinda minimal as this movie mostly focuses on the action and adventure, but there are still some moments that are decently funny and heartfelt like the forming relationship between Larn and Teegra, and some of the comedic banter.
The animation is very solid as it does look pretty well crafted with it's use of rotoscoping such as the characters and creatures all having some pretty solid designs that are accompanied by some pretty fluid and realistic movements, the backgrounds are incredibly well drawn and painted, and they do give the movie some solid details, and there are some nice special effects.
The characters are kind of a mixed bag as they can be pretty one-note and kinda generic in terms of fantasy stories, but there are some that do still manage to be somewhat likable and memorable, serve their purpose, and they do have a bit of chemistry and dynamics like the brave Larn, the lovely Teegra, the fierce Darkwolf, and Juliana and Nekron are decent villains. But everyone else is pretty forgettable.
The voice acting is pretty decent as the voice actors do give some good performances like William Ostrander as Larn, Maggie Roswell as Teegra, Steve Sandor as Darkwolf, Stephen Mendel as Nekron, Susan Tyrrell as Juliana, and more.
The music is pretty solid as the score does sound very nice and adventurous, and it does capture the movie's adventurous, fantastical, gritty, and action-packed tone.

Overall, while this is a pretty standard fantasy adventure, and Bakshi's weakest fantasy film, the movie is still decent enough to where it is worth checking out.

Cast:
William Ostrander as Larn
Maggie Roswell as Teegra
Steve Sandor as Darkwolf
Stephen Mendel as Nekron
Leo Gordon as Jarol
William Ostrander as Taro
Susan Tyrrell as Juliana
Elizabeth Lloyd Shaw as Roleil
Micky Morton as Otwa
Clare Nono as the Tutor
Big Yank as Monga
Greg Wayne Elam as Pakp
Alan Koss as Envoy
Hans Howes as Defender Captain
Ray Oliver, Nathan Purdee, and Le Tari as Subhumans

Crew:
Directed by Ralph Bakshi
Written by Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas
Produced by Frank Frazetta and Ralph Bakshi
Music by William Kraft

Misc.
Production companies: Aspen Productions, Film Finance Group
Distributed by 20th Century-Fox
Release date: August 19, 1983
Runtime: 1 hour, 21 minutes