Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

hellraiser7 Fantasy has been the first genre I got into when I was a child and animation was the first outlet for it. Animation and the fantasy genre really do suit each other hand in hand since animation has always carried a broader creative freedom in the visual medium that only live action can only hope to match. This is one of my favorite animated films of all time and it's my favorite film from one of my favorite animated directors Ralph Bachi.This film was just a dream come true since as a kid I was into the cartoon show "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" but also read some of the "Conan" comics, so you can guess how psyched I was watching this.This film is pretty much a straightforward fantasy action adventure, which is fine by me sometimes the best fantasy stories for me are ones that are simple and just being what they should be escapist fun.The animation is just fantastic and I personally things holds up today in my book anyway. Let alone the fact it's been done by Frank Rashatta whom did the art and cover art for "The Savage Sword of Conan", "Vampiera", and "Tarzan" all three I like which makes this film all the more good. From the character and creature animation, but I'm more impressed with the background animation which successfully creates this lush and vast fantasy world that is reminiscent of the "Conan" stories but also some of the worlds in Edgar Rice Burroghs "Tarzan" stories. There are jungles, forests, ruins, temples and a whole lot of other things I don't want to give away, like in any great fantasy story it always made me wonder what more is in that world. I even like the movements of the characters which is realistic all due to the technique of rotoscoping, I thought it was used in this film well and right. It's kinda interesting seeing these characters move this way where in most common animated features the characters movements seem to vary or be uneven in pacing sometimes which is sort of weird when you think about it.The music is just spectacular and memorable, it's personally one of my favorite and I think underrated movie scores. The theme song is one of my personal favorites because it is exciting and has that epic action adventure feel to it.The story I think is great it's not a deep story but as I said before this is escapist fun and the fact that Roy Thomas whom is a writer for the "Conan" comics wrote is is great, it's a shame he didn't write for any more animated films because this film showed how capable he was. This I feel also give the film sort of a throwback feel of some of the pulp fantasy stories from long time ago, our need to excape from reality and dive into a realm away from the familiar and were anything is possible.Characters like the typical hero Larn and princess Teggra both are two dimensional and are simply there to serve their functions. If there is a character that stands out is Blackwolf whom is just awesome, I really like the design of him which might have been a partial inspiration to the caveman version of Batman in Grant Morison's graphic novel "Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne". He has some of the best lines but is just simply a man of action, as he is just kick butt and taking names in the film.Yeah, I know not deep characterization but we're in this film for the action and adventure. And this film's action is just great, it is well choreographed and the battle sequences are creative and different, like one of my favorite battles sequences is seeing the tribe of fire invading by flying in with Teradacdyls. The action sequences are also very violent which is awesome, we do see some blood, I wouldn't say a heavy amount but enough to satisfy. It's always awesome seeing in those sequences Darkwolf use that Axe of his which could make comic book hero "Ax Cop" eat his heart out as we see how well he handles it.Fire and Ice burns.Rating: 4 stars

Woodyanders Brave and resourceful young warrior Larn not only vows to gets revenge on the evil Nekron after Nekron murders everyone in his village, but also attempts to rescue the beautiful princess Teegra from Nekron's foul clutches. The rugged and mysterious Darkwolf helps Larn out. Director Ralph Bakshi and noted illustrator Frank Frazetta are to be commended for not making this film a cutesy and wholesome piece of Disneyesque lightweight family fare; instead it's a dark and fairly gritty rough'n'tumble affair with a serious tone, startling moments of savage violence, vigorous and exciting action set pieces, and a funky array of odd and often lethal creatures (Nekron's simian subhuman flunkies in particular are pretty grotesque and detestable). The exquisitely fluid and vivid animation that was done with rotoscoping over live actors and actresses possesses a remarkably lifelike quality. The characters and the dangerous world they inhabit is designed with tremendous flair and imagination, with buff larger-than-life heroes, eminently loathsome baddies, and an incredibly gorgeous and voluptuous damsel in distress who isn't as helpless as she initially appears to be. Moreover, the basic simplicity of the story gives this movie a winningly unpretentious charm: Larn and Teegra make for appealing protagonists, Darkwolf rates as one amazing bad-ass dude, and Nekron sizes up as an exceptionally hateful and arrogant villain. The excellent voice work by the cast warrants extra kudos, with especially fine contributions from Steve Sandor as the formidable Darkwolf, Leo Gordon as kindly king Jarol, and Susan Tyrell as Nekron's venomous witch mother Juliana. Francis Grumman's robust orchestral score hits the rousing spot. William Kraft's crisp cinematography boasts neat occasional use of wipes. An extremely cool and enjoyable flick.

TheHande With Ralph Bakshi most of his films appear to be like two-edged swords. You'll get something awesome out of it but only if you put up with the silly and the unnecessarily cheezy. The Lord of the Rings was a great adaptation of the story which perhaps didn't always shine in the animation department.Fire and Ice is a great achievement from Bakshi from an animation point of view. The rotoscoping is a lot more detailed and the animation has a vibrant look to it. You still get some of the dull still-cells and slightly blurred background paintings but on the over-all the look has definitely gotten better since Bakshi's last fantasy epic. The animation has almost a realistic-naturalistic style to it, and unlike in LOTR where this style was often at odds with the actual content, here it enhances the film's unique atmosphere.Unfortunately the film fails to create a meaningful story out of its simple setting and in fact most of the characters' motivations are pretty blurred. Lorn and Tigra are easy cases but even the main villain Necron was difficult to follow not to mention That Guy with Furry Face Mask (also known as just 'That Guy'). Even though most of the voice actor's were appropriate, there are some odd quirks in the audio-department and Tigra especially sounds really terrible whenever she's screaming.However, I believe the film's inherent entertainment value outweighs its unnecessarily silly execution of the plot-line. The scant clad of the characters is something you'll never get over but it helps you remind yourself that perhaps this film isn't even intended to be taken too seriously. It's still a hella cool and really funny.

newkfl I was pretty impressed with the graphics and animation of Fire and Ice. It was very nice to see some decent, colorful and somewhat simple animation for a change. I thought that the artists took their time to display to their audiences what they really wanted to show. They did not overdo it and made it exciting at the same time. It was a classic battle of good versus evil with some twists and turns throughout the storyline, but I would not have expected anything lesser from these artists. The story moved very well and I would recommend it to some of my other friends. It was very nice to see how the plot ended. I was not really surprised, but somewhat relieved. Check it out!!!