i would not claim to be a fan of ralph bakshi and because i be not . i have only watch 5 of his animated film so far represent coonskin and wizard and fritz the cat and lord of the ring and finally fire and ice . what i can claim and be that i find fire and ice to be the most enjoyable of the lot . it be a straightforward fantasy tale of sword and sorcery along the line of conan the barbarian and but the beautiful artwork and realistic animation and lively film score effectively lend a very classic charm to this movie . deserve first mention and be the animation itself . i do not care what people say about rotoscoping but in my opinion ralph bakshi use that technique very effectively here . i be amaze at how realistic the movement of the character be . the style of directing and the photo realistic character design make fire and ice feel more like a big budget fantasy blockbuster than a cartoon . sadly the level of art detail tend to get a little inconsistent and especially near the end of the movie . some scene just look really flat with little to no body contour detail or fabric fold and shadow on the character . with realistic move character and realistic action would naturally follow . not only be the action well choreograph and but it be really brutal . i would be so bold a to compare the brutality of the action to live action movie like zack snyder 300. i do notice however that though there be blood shed and the blood splatter be keep to a minimum . again and a great choice by the creative team that only heighten the view experience by not take thing too over the top . though i do not recognize any big name in the cast and the voice actor manage to deliver a satisfying performance while keep the delivery of every line realistically subdue and only ham it up in the case of the bad guy . do i say bad guy . yes i do . because that be exactly what the story be about and a standard good v evil tale . nothing really original about the story which seem to merely be a mix of pre exist fantasy film clichés that involve scantly clad warrior and maiden . anyone look for depth would be sorely disappointed . the character be not give much development and some of them like nekron and darkwolf be one dimensional at best ( i do however hear rumor of some delete scene that explain darkwolf obsession with kill nekron and his mother . scene like that deserve full restoration and should have be include in the final cut to add a level of depth to the show ) . in fact and i would not be surprise to find out that the whole movie be just a tech demo of sort to showcase the awesome animation and art and with the story cobble together and thrown in a an afterthought in order to pass it off a a proper movie . a true classic of a bygone era and fire and ice really capture the blaze spirit of adventure and mysticism with it beautiful rendering of fantastic creature and charm character . it be a unique vision of a world create by ralph bakshi and artist frank frazetta with a good measure of action and suspense . would it hold up to animate film standard of today . definitely not . but i urge animation fan in general to get off your high horse and give this simple but beautiful film a chance to grow on you . it be truly a gem of the 80 worth check out .