Stripping down the appeal of comic book fantasy to its core elements of scantily clad, buxom women both good and evil as well as plenty of body-smashing action, this animated cult favorite tells the sketchy tale of the land of Firekeep, which Princess Teegra and her kingdom are under threat from the sinister, rapidly-expanding ice kingdom and its ruthless witch leader Juliana and her barbaric son, Nekron. The only hope for salvation lies with two warriors, Larn and Darkwolf, who must save the princess from constant kidnapping threats as well as hordes of monstrous armies performing Nekron's bidding.

Though he established his career with extremely stylized, adult fare like Fritz the Cat and Coonskin, animator Ralph Bakshi began making some important changes to his technique as the 1970s ended. First, he began using rotoscoping (drawing over live action performers) in 1979's Wizards and more extensively in 1981's American Pop, while the former film also marked his first significant foray into pure fantasy. He continued to explore both with his controversial adaptation of The Lord of the Rings and then took a page from the hit film Heavy Metal for his third fantasy, Fire and Ice, which added the additional commercial element of buxom women courtesy of assistance from noted artist Frank Frazetta.

Rated PG and yet too intense for kids, Fire and Ice is targeted squarely at animation and graphic novel fans who might want to introduce newcomers without swamping them in explicit sex and gore. The plotline itself is as basic and predictable as can be, even more conventional than a random episode of TV's Dungeons & Dragons. Instead the appeal lies in the marriage of Bakshi's kinetic style and Frazetta's familiar visual obsessions, with fur-lined flesh and metallic weapons constantly filling the screen. It's all diverting enough considering the short running time and has an understandable fan following, but don't expect a towering animation masterpiece.

Blue Underground's single DVD from 2005 and 2008 combo Blu-ray/DVD editions contain a colorful transfer that perfectly captures the original look of the film, which is often filled with visible dust and speckles on the frames but otherwise looks terrific. The audio is even better, a powerful mixture of room-shaking bass and powerful music blasting from every speaker. It's definitely demo material for an animated title before the dawn of Pixar. Extras include an audio commentary with Bakshi and Lance Laspina about the project's entire production process from origins to execution, a vintage 13m31s making-of promotional piece transferred from an archival VHS copy, an 8m1s Bakshi video interview about Frazetta, a theatrical trailer, a 14m6s piece with voice actor Sean Hannon reading his diary notes from the recording sessions, and a 13m6s production photo gallery (with optional descriptive notes). The British DVD contains no extras but features the same transfer. Blue Underground also released a limited two-disc edition containing an extra bonus available exclusively on the second DVD, the excellent feature-length documentary Frazetta: Painting with Fire. Bakshi, Conan the Barbarian director John Milius, Bernie Wrightson, Dave Stevens and a host of other talking heads appear along with tons of artwork and demonstrations to carefully chart the course of this influential artist; it's definitely worth hanging on to the DVD just for this alone.

In 2026, Blue Underground revisited the film as a three-disc UHD and Blu-ray set featuring a new 4K scan of the film, plus a soundtrack CD with the score by William Kraft. The new scan (with HDR-compatible Dolby Vision on the UHD) looks superb in motion, with some variations in the color timing closer to what you'd see in a Bakshi theatrical print around that time with more gradation in the colors and less boosting compared to the earlier Blu-ray in several areas. The opening is probably the most significant difference, looking like it's taking place at dusk with a more sinister feel than before (see the first comparison below). The framing shifts here to the theatrical 1.85:1 aspect ratio versus the earlier releases' 1.78:1, adding more on the right side and tightening in a bit vertically. This time you get a spacious new Dolby Atmos mix plus the 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD English options, and the Atmos version is quite the sonic treat with the atmospheric music and sound effects pushed more fully above and around than before. Optional English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles are provided, and the commentary, making-of, Bakshi on Frazetta featurette, and Hannon's diary notes are all ported over here, plus the trailer and archival behind-the-scenes gallery. The new "The Art Of Fire And Ice: The Frank Frazetta Legacy" (15m13s) with granddaughter Sara Frazetta is a very warm, enjoyable portrait of the artist including his love of films (his choice of all-time favorite is a great one), his working relationship with Bakshi, favorite memories of the project, the contributions he made including the writing during his first time dealing with Hollywood, and the later ongoing comic with Dynamite. Then a new interview with filmmaker Robert Rodriguez (7m20s) is an affectionate testament to the film's impact on him from his first viewing of the film as a test screening in San Antonio to his own collection of its artwork and his thoughts on rotoscoping as the ancestor of modern motion capture. Also included are extensive, separate new galleries for posters, German lobby cards, color stills, Frazetta and Bakshi artwork portfolios, sketches, animation cells and backgrounds, and a video, comics and more collection.

UHD

2008 Blu-ray

Updated review on May14, 2026