The title of my review says it all. I saw the movie yesterday and I enjoyed it but...
BUT...
The movie was - in fact - extremely stupid. And by saying "extremely stupid" I am actually being nice. I mean, it looks like a great fantasy adventure, it is very well animated, the action scenes are absolutely great...
Sadly, the screenplay is absolutely horrible. It really is. 'Fire and Ice' is probably the most terribly written animated movie that I have ever seen, and I have sen a lot. The dialogue is just horrible. I saw the movie like 13 hours ago and I can barely remember what the characters were saying, and what I do remember is a few lines that sounded like they came straight out of some gamebook like the "Fighting Fantasy" books written by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson. The characterization... Well... There is just no such thing here. All characters depend on the way they were drawn, not on the way they were written. The "I Am Blonde And Brave" hero, the "I Am Here Just Because I Am Naked" princess, the "I Have Covered My Face With A Mask For No Reason At All And I Have An Ax" masked man with the ax, the "Look How Evil I Am MUHAHAHA" villain... You would know pretty much everything about every single character in the movie as soon as you saw them.
The setting certainly looks nice. Everything is perfectly drawn. BUT... Well, if you are less than 14 years old boy you are probably going to love it. There are DINOSAURS! There is A KRAKEN! There are ORCS! There are AZTEC BUILDINGS!!! What is not to like? Well... It is just absurd. It looks nice but these things just don't go well together. Actually I would love it if it was relevant to the story but it just wasn't. The kraken, for example, appeared for less than a minute and it didn't add anything to the story. The Aztec buildings were there just because they look beautiful and for no other reason at all - no one event entered any of them. Etc.
Now... I am going to stop with the criticisms and I am going to write what I liked about the movie. There is really a lot to be liked, especially when it comes to the quality of the animation. At that time there was no CGI-magic and everything had to be drawn by hand. Yet the characters are very detailed and their moves are extremely smooth. One can rarely see so well animated sword battles even in the finest Japanese anime movies. They move like real, living people, and by saying that I am not exaggerating at all. The fights are masterfully choreographed, the stunts are just stunning, and combined with the beautifully looking set designs the effect is just breathtaking. If that is what you like, see the movie. But if you want good characters, story and dialogue, look somewhere else. Really.
BUT...
The movie was - in fact - extremely stupid. And by saying "extremely stupid" I am actually being nice. I mean, it looks like a great fantasy adventure, it is very well animated, the action scenes are absolutely great...
Sadly, the screenplay is absolutely horrible. It really is. 'Fire and Ice' is probably the most terribly written animated movie that I have ever seen, and I have sen a lot. The dialogue is just horrible. I saw the movie like 13 hours ago and I can barely remember what the characters were saying, and what I do remember is a few lines that sounded like they came straight out of some gamebook like the "Fighting Fantasy" books written by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson. The characterization... Well... There is just no such thing here. All characters depend on the way they were drawn, not on the way they were written. The "I Am Blonde And Brave" hero, the "I Am Here Just Because I Am Naked" princess, the "I Have Covered My Face With A Mask For No Reason At All And I Have An Ax" masked man with the ax, the "Look How Evil I Am MUHAHAHA" villain... You would know pretty much everything about every single character in the movie as soon as you saw them.
The setting certainly looks nice. Everything is perfectly drawn. BUT... Well, if you are less than 14 years old boy you are probably going to love it. There are DINOSAURS! There is A KRAKEN! There are ORCS! There are AZTEC BUILDINGS!!! What is not to like? Well... It is just absurd. It looks nice but these things just don't go well together. Actually I would love it if it was relevant to the story but it just wasn't. The kraken, for example, appeared for less than a minute and it didn't add anything to the story. The Aztec buildings were there just because they look beautiful and for no other reason at all - no one event entered any of them. Etc.
Now... I am going to stop with the criticisms and I am going to write what I liked about the movie. There is really a lot to be liked, especially when it comes to the quality of the animation. At that time there was no CGI-magic and everything had to be drawn by hand. Yet the characters are very detailed and their moves are extremely smooth. One can rarely see so well animated sword battles even in the finest Japanese anime movies. They move like real, living people, and by saying that I am not exaggerating at all. The fights are masterfully choreographed, the stunts are just stunning, and combined with the beautifully looking set designs the effect is just breathtaking. If that is what you like, see the movie. But if you want good characters, story and dialogue, look somewhere else. Really.