The movie opens with a narration of our story so far. Nekron, son of
Queen Juliana, is a powerful sorcerer. From his frozen fortress of
Icepeak, he sends forth glaciers to crush town walls and his subhuman
soldiers overwhelm the human defenders, always pressing toward the lands
of King Jarol, ruler of Firekeep. Jarol has two children, Prince Taro
and Princess Teegra. His keep is built upon an active volcano. Nekron
has sent a delegation to discuss the terms of Jarol's surrender but they
are really meant to distract the king while his daughter, the bouncy
and nubile Princess Teegra, is kidnapped.
Princess Teegra is one of the two main characters. Teegra spends the entire film barefoot and mostly naked. How she survives when taken into the clearly frigid Icepeak is a mystery. She spends her time alternately being captured by and fleeing from the subhumans. After her first escape, she stumbles upon Larn, who eagerly becomes her protector. But when separated from him, she is again captured by the subhumans only to escape into the arms of a witch and her ogre. And then get captured again and finally taken to Icepeak. Queen Juliana has plans of Nekron marrying the girl but he finds the idea repulsive and has her tossed into the ice cave of corpses. When she awakens, she discovers her brother Taro among the dead.
Larn, the other main character, is the last survivor of a tribe crushed by Nekron's glacier. He wears only a loincloth and furry boots. His only permanent weapon is a dagger, though at one time or another he finds himself with axe, sword, spiked flail, or spear. He has a nasty habit of disarming himself and an even worse habit of not picking up a weapon lying on the ground. Like Teegra, he had to flee from the subhumans, killing several along the way. He is repeatedly aided by a dark stranger on a horse. After being separated from Teegra by an unfortunate encounter with a giant squid, Larn is nursed to health by the mysterious horseman. Darkwolf (he is only named in the credits) and Larn fail to rescue the princess but report Taro's death to Jarol. They enlist Jarol's Firehawk riders on a suicidal assault against Icepeak. While Larn rescues Teegra, Darkwolf engages Nekron in a duel to the death.
Considering the length of the movie, it has a wide variety of monsters. There was the amphibious stegosaurus that laid waste to a dozen subhumans. The subhumans are essentially Neanderthals while our heroes are Cro-Magnon men. King Jarol has Firehawks at his command, which are just pterodactyl-like creatures. There are wolves and horses. Princess Teegra had a panther as a pet. There was a squid-like creature that lived in a lake and had a single eye the size of man.
The technology of the film is bizarre. Larn and the subhumans appear to be Stone Age people. However, when first we meet Larn, he is armed with a spiked flail, a weapon designed to overcome shield and armor. People in this world hardly wear clothes, let alone armor. The clothes thing is really odd. It is an Ice Age and glaciers are pressing south but hardly anyone wears a shirt. It was odd that the most clothed people were Taro's men who live in a volcano. Even so, no one wears pants.
The characters are not well-developed. Teegra is just an excuse to have a woman running around nearly naked. Well, yes, I suppose that is good enough development for the target audience. Darkwolf is the most interesting character. He's always on the fringe of things, saving Larn repeatedly. He is a combat monster, happily taking on 2 score of Nekron's subhumans. When others had met Nekron, the sorcerer would use magic to take over their bodies and make them kill each other or themselves. Darkwolf overcomes the sorcery. Here is a high-level character. Though not mentioned in the film, the script suggested that Darkwolf was Nekron's father.
All in all, it's a fun movie with good animation and a fast pace. Popcorn fun at its best.
Princess Teegra is one of the two main characters. Teegra spends the entire film barefoot and mostly naked. How she survives when taken into the clearly frigid Icepeak is a mystery. She spends her time alternately being captured by and fleeing from the subhumans. After her first escape, she stumbles upon Larn, who eagerly becomes her protector. But when separated from him, she is again captured by the subhumans only to escape into the arms of a witch and her ogre. And then get captured again and finally taken to Icepeak. Queen Juliana has plans of Nekron marrying the girl but he finds the idea repulsive and has her tossed into the ice cave of corpses. When she awakens, she discovers her brother Taro among the dead.
Larn, the other main character, is the last survivor of a tribe crushed by Nekron's glacier. He wears only a loincloth and furry boots. His only permanent weapon is a dagger, though at one time or another he finds himself with axe, sword, spiked flail, or spear. He has a nasty habit of disarming himself and an even worse habit of not picking up a weapon lying on the ground. Like Teegra, he had to flee from the subhumans, killing several along the way. He is repeatedly aided by a dark stranger on a horse. After being separated from Teegra by an unfortunate encounter with a giant squid, Larn is nursed to health by the mysterious horseman. Darkwolf (he is only named in the credits) and Larn fail to rescue the princess but report Taro's death to Jarol. They enlist Jarol's Firehawk riders on a suicidal assault against Icepeak. While Larn rescues Teegra, Darkwolf engages Nekron in a duel to the death.
Considering the length of the movie, it has a wide variety of monsters. There was the amphibious stegosaurus that laid waste to a dozen subhumans. The subhumans are essentially Neanderthals while our heroes are Cro-Magnon men. King Jarol has Firehawks at his command, which are just pterodactyl-like creatures. There are wolves and horses. Princess Teegra had a panther as a pet. There was a squid-like creature that lived in a lake and had a single eye the size of man.
The technology of the film is bizarre. Larn and the subhumans appear to be Stone Age people. However, when first we meet Larn, he is armed with a spiked flail, a weapon designed to overcome shield and armor. People in this world hardly wear clothes, let alone armor. The clothes thing is really odd. It is an Ice Age and glaciers are pressing south but hardly anyone wears a shirt. It was odd that the most clothed people were Taro's men who live in a volcano. Even so, no one wears pants.
The characters are not well-developed. Teegra is just an excuse to have a woman running around nearly naked. Well, yes, I suppose that is good enough development for the target audience. Darkwolf is the most interesting character. He's always on the fringe of things, saving Larn repeatedly. He is a combat monster, happily taking on 2 score of Nekron's subhumans. When others had met Nekron, the sorcerer would use magic to take over their bodies and make them kill each other or themselves. Darkwolf overcomes the sorcery. Here is a high-level character. Though not mentioned in the film, the script suggested that Darkwolf was Nekron's father.
All in all, it's a fun movie with good animation and a fast pace. Popcorn fun at its best.
What I failed to mention in the January 2012 review is that this is a Ralph Bakshi film that was based on the artwork of famed fantasy artist Frank Frazetta.
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