Unavailable for many years, this Ralph Bakshi feature arrived after the consecutive flops of his The Lord of the Rings (1978), American Pop (1981) and Hey Good Lookin' (1982). It's hard to fathom why Bakshi opted to join forces with Frank Frazetta, the creator of Conan the Barbarian, for this mild fantasy which lacks the detailed artistry one associates with Frazetta or the raw iconoclastic attitude of Bakshi's breakthrough hits (such as Fritz the Cat) from the early 1970s. Basically a standard battle of good against evil set in a prehistoric era, Fire and Ice's most interesting character is (not surprisingly) the villain, a sorcerer who clearly enjoys dishing up wicked spells. Beyond that, however, the film is essentially an endless series of fights between people with ridiculously overdeveloped musculature (a Frazetta fetish). Bakshi's animation is based on rotoscoping (animating over live action footage), which makes some of the action sequences seem unusually vivid in their fury and detail. But, overall, this is a forgettable endeavor—in fact, Bakshi wouldn't release another film until 1992's Cool World. Presented with a decent widescreen transfer, DVD extras on this double-disc set include audio commentary by Bakshi, featurettes on the “making of” the film and Frazetta, and the bonus documentary Frazetta: Painting with Fire (VL Online-5/05), an interesting tribute to the artist that is certainly more memorable than his collaboration with Bakshi. Worth picking up for those who don't already own the previously released Frazetta bio, but optional for others. (P. Hall)[Blu-ray Review—Sept. 15, 2009—Blue Underground, 102 min., PG, $39.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1983's Fire and Ice sports a good transfer with 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. Blu-ray extras include audio commentary with producer-director Ralph Bakshi, “Sean Hannon's Diary Notes” with voice cast member Hannon (14 min.), a “making-of” featurette (13 min.), a photo gallery montage (13 min.), a “Bakshi on Frazetta” interview with Bakshi about illustrator Frank Frazetta's characters (8 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a solid Blu-ray debut for an uneven Bakshi film.]
Fire and Ice
Blue Underground, 2 discs, 81 min., PG, DVD: $34.95 Volume 20, Issue 6
Fire and Ice
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