Last week saw the 35th anniversary of Ralph Bakshi’s Fire and Ice (1983), so I thought it a good idea to look back upon a movie that is not nearly as bad as a lot of people claim.
Don Coscarelli’s The Beastmaster (1982) and John Milius’s Conan the Barbarian (1983) along with the release of Mattel’s Masters of the Universe toy line (starting 1981) had proven that heroic fantasy can be very popular and profitable. It is unfortunate though that Fire and Ice was not very well received and failed to make an impact at the box office.
The film was produced by Bakshi with Frank Frazetta. Ralph Bakshi had proven himself as a director and writer of merit after delivering the financially successful animated films Fritz the Cat (1972), Wizards (1977), and Lord of the Rings (1978).
In case you do not know who Frank Frazetta is, he is the guy that painted all the covers for the Conan paperbacks in the 1960s and 1970s. He also did tons of work for comic book publishers (mostly horror, fantasy, and science fiction books). The first three Molly Hatchet album covers and Nazareth’s Expect No Mercy album cover were also painted by him.
The film has maintained a cult following over the years and has aged quite well. The plot is straightforward and revolves around a kidnapped princess and a young warrior who needs to rescue her. Swords clash, monsters are slain, and a giant slab of ice creeps over the tundra to destroy everything in its wake. Throw in a mother and son team of evil magic users and a princess with a very translucent nighty and you have the makings of a sword and sorcery epic. The film is everything the Masters of the Universe cartoon should have been, but couldn’t have been, because, you know, children (not that I am not a fan of MOTU).
So why is this movie good? For one thing, the art and the animation are fantastic. No one produces animations like this anymore. The backgrounds were created by master brush-men James Gurney and Thomas Kinkade, with layouts by Peter Chung, and animation by the Bakshi animators; Steven E. Gordon (X-men Evolution), Bell, Banks, and Sparey.
To animate the characters the animators employed the rotoscope technique, meaning that scenes of the movie had to be acted out, filmed, developed, and then traced onto animation cells. This reduces the time needed to create the animations while also assisting the artists in creating realistic body movements for the characters. This same technique was used by Filmation Associates for many of their cartoons.
Another reason why this film is worth watching is the story. Yes, it is a simple story, but if you like Lord of the Rings, Conan, or Elric, then this is a must watch. It is one of the few fantasy films out there that has the look and feel of the 70s and 80s fantasy novels many of us grew up reading.
The film has been released on Blu-ray and DVD and the transfers look excellent. In addition, a limited edition of the film has also been released which includes a Frank Frazetta documentary, Frazetta: Painting with Fire. Robert Rodriguez of Sin City fame acquired the rights for a live action version of the film in 2014, so hopefully we’ll soon be seeing it at theaters.
