From the far reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy, It's Retro Nerd Girl with a film review for you.
Today I'll be reviewing the movie Fire and Ice released in 1983.
Starring:
Randy Norton, Cynthia Leake, Steve Sandor
Directed by:
Ralph Bakshi
Genre:
Animation, Fantasy, Adventure
Rating:
PG
Budget:
$1,200,000 (estimated)
IMBD Rating is currently:
6.7
My Rating:
8
The Synopsis is:
This is a sword and sorcery chronicle of the downfall of an evil ice queen, Queen Juliana and her demented son and ruler of IcePeak, Nekron. One wages war on the land and the other seek to secure the future of the throne with a royal heir.
Enjoyment:
This is a film I never got the pleasure of watching when it came out. In fact I only saw this film recently and I really liked it a lot because it is a call back to Frank Frazetta’s art which influenced me a lot as a child. I know his art was a bit more for adults and regularly featured in the comic magazine Heavy Metal.
But I suppose, extremely geeky kids like me knew about Frank and his art. This film is like imagining what his wonderful fantasy illustrations would look like if they came to life and you could follow the characters around.
Pacing:
At 1h 21min it's not too bad, but it feels a lot longer than it is. There’s a lot of moments where you are trying to keep up with what’s visually going on because there is not much dialogue or exposition.
*THE REST OF THE REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS. *
Story:
In 1982, when films like Wizards, The Beastmaster and Conan the Barbarian became popular, Director, Ralph Bakshi thought it would be a great opportunity for him to work with his friend and fantasy illustrator Frank Frazetta.
The two worked on developing all aspects of the characters as comic book writers Roy Thomas and
Gerry Conway wrote the screenplay.
And the film does have a very strong comic book feel to it as it is mostly without dialogue. It plays out like an animated documentary of a barbaric age.
Another interesting choice for the story is that it doesn’t follow the hero’s journey we are used to watching. The actual hero of the film, Darkwolf is not introduced until the last third of the film and barely any attention is given to him at all even though he is the most dynamic character in it.
And the story focuses on the secondary characters and their point of view. This would be Larn and Teegra, two young lovers fleeing from the bad guys.
It’s a lot like watching a film about Commissioner Gordon while Batman is being the hero.
Ralph Bakshi inserted a few recycled names in this film from the film Wizards released in 1977. Such as the use of two names, one being Nekron, from Nekron 99 and Darkwolf from Blackwolf.
Challenge:
At first you think that the most evil and strongest character in the film would be the queen of Icepeak, Queen Juliana, but she’s not.
She never wields her powers if she has any at all and as queen she never sits on the throne. Her son Nekron does.
She does exhibit some intention by wanting to take over Firekeep, a rival clan. But her long term plans for her kingdom is to see her son, Nekron, bear royal heirs to the throne.
And it is her manipulative actions that ultimately lead to the fall Icepeak, when she has the daughter of King Jarol of Firekeep, Teegra, kidnapped to wed Nekron.
Nekron is the most challenging of the villains as he sits on the throne of Icepeak. He’s cruel and mostly interested in pushing his powers to the limit. It’s unclear what else his motives are except to be the most powerful being.
When dueling Larn he seems to be more interested in becoming a better swordsman too, keeping Larn for sport instead of just killing him.
Queen Juliana presents him with a beautiful scantily clad woman and he is mostly disgusted. He is only interested in her once he knows it will taunt his enemies.
The many faces of Nekron reveals that he is completely unhinged and it is unsure whether or not it’s because he was brought up as a spoiled prince amused by afflicting cruelty to those who cross his path or he has been driven crazy by the use and development of his magic.
Nekron seems to be tormented by the magic, because he is constantly holding his head and when he uses his powers we get the most interesting physical contortions that are fascinating to watch.
He is a fascinating character.
Under the command of the Icepeak monarchy are the subhumans, that do their bidding…. Capturing princess Teegra and chasing Larn.
They are the physical manifestation of the lack of humanity towards the humans of this world.
They are all male, except for what seems to be the only female who is more like a symbol to the warriors, like a cheerleader or high priestess of sorts.
Empathy:
The empathy in this story is a growing one.
At first the film follows the journey of a young man by the name of Larn from the North Village. He is the sole survivor of a tribe of warriors defeated by Icepeak’s advancing glacier. He is chased by the subhumans into the woods to live on his own.
I say that Larn is not the true hero of the story but he does have fantastic adventures, growing as a warrior each time he survives a new challenge.
It’s not entirely clear whether or not he is interested in getting revenge for the annihilation of his village or just wandering the jungle for survival.
Eventually he meets the princess of FireKeep, Teerga, who has just escaped the clutches of the subhumans herself, and they nearly fall in love instantly. Bam! You man, me woman, then they are a couple.
It all seems frivolous with a hint of some larger more fascinating story lurking in the background as they frolick at an ancient ruin of a lost city amid the forest.
When Teegra is captured for a second time by the subhumans, Larn finally has a sense of purpose in the film as her hero.
He meets a character by the name of Darkwolf, who appears several times before he is introduced to us. He coincidentally bears a strong resemblance to one of the engravings in the ancient ruins.
He seems to know everything about how to get Teegra back and seems to have a special bit of grit in his voice when he speaks of Nekron.
At this point it seems he is just a guy who takes pity on Larn offering to help him on his enormous mission.
The most climactic moments of the film are the ones with him in it.
He is a fierce warrior with a possible magical power of his own. The backstory completely based on rumors, have insinuated that Darkwolf may have been the unseen father of Nekron.
He even refers to Queen Juliana a wolf bitch, which may indicate a possible connection between Juliana and his wolf tribe.
Whether he is or not, there is definitely a big chunk of story missing from the film about Darkwolf and his relationship in all of this.
What makes these characters likeable for me is that each character has their own struggles.
Larn’s big moment with Nekron is doesn't end with a victory, but defeat.
Teegra gets captured a lot, but escapes a lot too.
And Darkwolf doesn't win his battle with Nekron as easily as his battles with the subhumans. It takes more of his strength and suffering. The lack of invincibility of the characters imparts some grit to this fantasy.
And let’s talk about Teegra for a minute. She is a scantily clad damsel in distress, but she has a lot of spunk. She saves Larn’s life at least once, and even tries to break him out of captivity.
It is she that displays wisdom during the story as she tries to speak eloquently and reasonably to Nekron when they meet and tells Larn that he should move on from violence against the subhumans.
There is even some self sacrifice as King Jarol sends his son Prince Taro to negotiate with Nekron... knowing that this mission is a death sentence.
Technical:
Fire and Ice was filmed with live actors and actresses in black and white and then the outlines of the actors were rotoscoped in each frame, with animation cells placed over them. The result is a beautiful flow of movement that literally mimics actual movement.
Another surprising thing about this film is that the background painters were both influential. We have Thomas Kinkade famous for his landscapes, cottages and glades. The other was James Gurney, the author and artist of the Dinotopia illustrated novels.
Combined they produced about a thousand background paintings for the film.
According to the behind the scenes rumors Frank Frazetta was very demanding about the look of the animation that at some point many of the animators fainted when Frazetta visited the set.
Frank Frazetta even had demanding instructions for stuntmen portraying the subhumans on how to move. And it really pays off because their movements were a very nice touch to their characters.
The only thing that may have been a small problem is that a few times in the film the animated faces are a little wonky. And I believe that it was because the faces of the live action actors were altered to match the concept of the characters. It works mostly all of the time, but once in a few frames it went into uncanny valley.
Performances:
I think that the voice acting was great and the animation matched it well. So many physical and voice actors contributed to the performances so it was a great collaborative effort.
Best:
Any scene with Darkwolf in it was amazing.
But I also found the animation style… the movement in particular to be enthralling. I loved looking at the animation for this film.
Wish List:
I would have loved the incorporation of Darkwolf's story with this film. It would have been nice to get a fully fleshed out story about Darkwolf’s purpose for wanting to kill Nekron.
The Ending:
I loved the ending. The passing of time for the film is about 3 days possibly four. The story starts with Larns village being destroyed and Dark wolf says that for 3 days and 3 nights Nekron’s glacier has been wiping out everything in its path.
At first you think the battle between Larn and Nekron will end the story, showing how he’s grown as a warrior, getting revenge for the loss of his people and the capture of his new girlfriend.
But no, it’s the battle between Darkwolf and Nekron that ends the film and boy is it exciting. Dark Wolf is the man! What a wonderful character and the true hero in this film.
Summary:
What I really liked about this film is that it feels so realistic in it’s animated movement. Sure there are a few wonky moments, but the style of this film really triggers the imagination and makes me want to pull out my old sketchbook again and doodle up a warrior princess or a slave boy for her to rescue.
I am still a really big fan of Frank Frazetta and his vision is all over this film so watching it is such a big thrill for me. It reminds me of those old days thumbing through the wild comics of Heavy Metal magazine and seeing his mesmerizing work.
And my appreciation for the art in motion is mainly where my enjoyment lies.
That sums up my review. I hope you liked it. This is Retro Nerd Girl signing off.
Take care movie lovers! I'm off to the next review!
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