Customer Reviews

J.R.R. Tolkien Animated Films Set (The Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings/The Return of the King)

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I might feel differently if I had not grown up watching these films, but I will never know. The Rankin/Bass specials were something I always looked forward to watching on television, and the Ralph Bakshi "Lord of the Rings" was one of the first films I ever saw in the theatre. I loved them then. I love them now.

Watching them now, I think that the quality still holds up. Rankin/Bass are not masters of fluid, perfect animation. More than anything, they are stylists who achieved the highest quality they could within budget limitations. "The Hobbit" is the best of the bunch, using dialog and story from the book. The background paintings are beautiful, and the whole production has a hand-crafted feel to it that is far more charming than bigger-budget animation. "Return of the King" suffers from the poor casting choices for Merry and Pippin. The best scenes are Frodo and Sam in Mordor. The songs are memorable in both productions, and I dare you not to hum "Frodo of the Nine Fingers and the Ring of Doom" or "Where theres a Whip, theres a Way."

Ralph Bakshi's "Lord of the Rings" has suffered most through the passage of time. His experimental animation does not go over well with viewers used to "Toy Story" and "Akira." Personally, I find his vision of the story to be equal parts charming and creepy. He also took dialog from the books, to great effect. His Dark Riders are terrifying, as is his Balrog. It is unfortunate that he was not able to complete the second half as planned.

Considering that the audience for these productions are children, and with the understanding that adapting a novel is difficult, I think both the Rankin/Bass and Bakshi versions hold up well. Watching these as a child got me interested in the books, and didn't color my enjoyment of them at all. That's a good recommendation.

If for no other reason than "completing a media collection", these 3 DVDs are worth owning by fans of LOTR that love the story, but haven't gone over the deep end in terms of what they deem "worthy" renderings of Tolkien's work.
The Hobbit is probably the best of the three, though inexplicably is missing about a third of the sound effect work from the broadcast version - most notably Bilbo slaying the spiders, and Smaug's blasts of fire. Weird. Anyway, with the remarkable cast of voices it stands well on it's own. IMHO, Brother Theodore's version of Gollum's voice is probably the best there will ever be. Great for kids, fun for adults who remember.
Bakshi's "Lord of the Rings" was perhaps over ambitious - some of the rotoscoped scenes drive me nuts - but some things he did very very well. The relationships between the fellowship are completely believable. The black riders are spooky as it gets, and his version of Galadriel's pool/test are right on the money. All in all, I still like pulling it out on a dark pre-snowy autumn night.
Return of the King - this one's an oddity. I agree with some other reviewers here, it's treated like The Hobbit, but it's so dark that it almost gets funny in places. Roddy McDowell is over-the-top big time, painting Sam much harsher than the books, and much is glossed over for time constraints. Though,it too, has it's moments.
Over all, the Rankin Bass offerings are beautiful to look at...the backgrounds are breathtaking - water colors brought to life.
None of these three films are perfect, but given the fact that no major studio would touch any of 'em, _and_ the fact that over 1200 pages of story are being crammed into under 4 hours of movie, I find them mostly satisfying versions of LOTR, and find myself watching them more than I expected to.

The Rankin/Bass (The people who brought you Thundercats) versions of "The Hobbit" and "Return of The King" are extremely well done and all three films are BEAUTIFULLY restored for DVD! It's too bad it took the release of the Peter Jackson live-action versions to get these beautiful pieces of anime onto DVD but as long as it happened I guess it's all right even though it reeks of band-wagon capitalism. The Bakshi version of Lord of The Rings (Based on "Fellowship of The Ring" and portions of the "Two Towers") is also well done but the animation ranges from cheesy to beautiful and is uneven. I never connected with this middle film even though I appreciate it. It just lacked the organic and emotional feel and cleanliness of the first and the last one. For great battle scenes and images of Minos Tyrith, the third disc has to be seen to be believed! Full of singing and light, these discs straddle the line between kid and adult entertainment like a razor blade. It's really a shame they never put out a good CD compilation of the soundtracks to the first film and the last film (Kind of like the Less Than Zero orchestral score!) because the vocal and instrumental pieces are really beautiful!

"The Hobbit" is the best of these three, in no small part because Tolkien's novel is a children's book. The Rankin/Bass treatment does this story no injustice. The voice casting for Gandalf and Smaug are great. A great children's book made into a good children's movie. I hate Glen Yarborough's singing.

"The Lord of the Rings." Oh, dear. An "A" for effort, a "D" on the results. Bakshi tried to cram in too much, and ended up with not enough. Some of the animation is brilliant. Some of the rotoscoped stuff stinks. This is the movie that drags the collection down the most. Brilliant in spots, it manages to simutaneously go too fast and drag on too long. Not sure how they did that...

"The Return of the King" makes a good children's movie out of one third of a great adult novel. I must admit that the orc's song, "Where There's a Whip, There's a Way" is a lot of fun, even if it is nothing Tolkien's orcs would sing. The sequence of the breaking of the gate (with Grond) and Eowyn's confrontation with the Lord of the Nazgul are almost word-for-word from the book, and quite well done. The rest of it pretends that The Lord of the Rings is as simple as the Hobbit. Did I mention that I hate Glen Yarborough's singing?

If you are a diehard fan, or have kids who would like "The Hobbit," go for it. Otherwise, you probably won't be happy. You also won't be happy if you, like me, hate Glen Yarborough's singing.

Each of these movies holds a place in my heart; they represent the first way I experienced any of Tolkien's books. Not having seen the DVDs, I cannot acknowledge any technical issues, but I can tell you how much I have enjoyed these movies in my past, and hope you have a similar experience in your future.

I first saw The Hobbit in videodisc format. (People remember those, right? About the size of LPs, they stayed in the cases, and you put the case INTO the player, then pulled it back out in order to load it...) It was because of Rankin and Bass's visions that I was reading The Hobbit by second grade. A beautiful mosaic, this film does contradict some of Tolkien's (later) meticulous writings on his characters' appearances, for example, Gollum looks like a mutated frog; but it holds its own in a way that makes you believe, and the voices are perfectly cast. Though some might not be in favor of Glen Yarborough's songs, I stand that they work for this movie. The battles are rather stingy, and the animators shy away from death with a whorl of color and the deceased spinning off into the distance, but again, it works for the movie. The animation definitely gives the piece an "other-worldly" feel, as if this really is something from a time long ago.

I cannot truthfully say when I first saw this film, but it was most likely on BETA (People still remember that, as well, right?) In definitely the darkest of the three installments in this set, Bakshi's Lord of the Rings makes a noble attempt. I'll start with the obvious problems. The worst (though no fault of the director) is that this movie attempts to divide a trilogy into two movies, the second of which was never made. Peter Jackson was lucky indeed to get his LIVE ACTION version, a much more risky venture than animation, into three films. So of course plot elements are dropped, though if you are like I was, and have not read the books, the movie flows rather well. People also balk at the rotoscoping technique used for the action scenes, but I think it lends a creepy edge to the mort realistic of the three films (definitely some gore in this one.) One problem I have with the movie is the characters, Sam's a fat wimp, Aragorn looks like a Native American, Boromir like a Viking, and so on. Frodo and Gandalf are much better, and Gimli and Legolas have more personality than in Jackson's version. Another point for me is that Gollum is portrayed much better, and the voicing, while not as creepy as Brother Theodore's, is more accurate to Tolkien's writings. The orcs are very hard to see, being all black, and therefore, a little creepy. When I was little I actually used to get scared during the Moria scene. However, the balrog, which should be terrifying, comes off as looking like the animated equivalent of a guy in a costume. The dialogue is almost solely from the book, and that really works. So overall, this is a mixed movie.

Perhaps the most inaccurate of the three, and ironically, the movie that most shaped my childhood experience of Tolkien's world, Rankin/Bass's Return of the King is awkward, but enjoyable. The flighty style that so much defined The Hobbit seems out of place in this one. The songs, while enjoyable on their own, don't fit with the sense of doom that is inherit in this last installment. The Lord of the Nazgūl, or Sauron for that matter, aren't nearly as terrifying as they should be. And many characters, such as Gimli, Legolas, Faramir, and Eomer, are nowhere to be seen. That said; all the characters that ARE included are portrayed quite faithfully, save perhaps Aragorn, who give no evidence of once having been in the Fellowship. My personal favorite is Roddy McDowall's Sam Gamgee. In most other portrayals, (save Bakshi's and Jackson's) Sam is seen as mostly a wimp, and his voicing done very feminine. If you ever listen to one of Tolkien's readings of Sam, he meant him to be very loyal, gruff, and resolute, and that comes across here. The timeline is not-so-subtly fudged around with, and what should be epic battles are destroyed with the Rankin/Bass way of "killing." Overall though, the strong casting outshines any creative missteps. And, to its credit, the movie ends in the same bittersweet way as the book.

When I was around eight years old I tried to make a live action version of The Hobbit. I mention this because it holds three pieces of evidence of how these movies influenced me: 1, that I knew the story well enough, 2, The phrase "now you bite my finger off, right?" is mistakenly caught on film, and 3, I tried to recreate the prologue from the beginning of Bakshi's LotR. How many eight-year-olds know that Gollum came to the ring by murdering his closest friend? Ten years later, I can now view these movies set against my avid reading of Tolkien's novels, and find the many flaws they contain. However, I cannot deny the impact they made on my introduction to Middle-Earth. Every version of Lord of the Rings, may it be animation, live action, audio presentations, or book on tape versions, will give you a different point of view. It is important to remember that none will ever match the experience or the visions that you'll have in your mind's eye that come from reading the book itself. Personally, I like taking in EVERY version and enjoying it as a separate experience. These movies are definitely a step in the right direction.

Am I the only person that thinks the rotoscoping animation used in Lord of the Rings is superb? I have always thought that this is what animation should be, by making the characters seem very life like I sometimes forgot I was watching an animated film. Ever since I was a child I have compared every animated film to this one, and but for the recent technological advance in animation, I have always believed that Lord had the best.

I echo the comments that Return of the King was a huge letdown after the first two animated films. Too many songs and gaps in the story.

As with any interpretation of a book somethings are left out beacause of time comstraints. I have enjoed watching the first two stories but the third is a waste of time.

This version of "The Hobbit" was my introduction to Tolkien's work as a child. It is very good, created by one of the animators(Rankin and Bass) who brought us "Rudolph The red nosed reindeer" and other holiday classics.

The "Lord of the Rings" DVD covers the Fellowship and The Two Towers. It is quite true to Tolkien's work and pretty good, but I didn't like the animation style.It is very different from the other two in this set.

"Return of the King" was quite a let down.This is not for purists Tolkien. By trying to cover too much material in too short a time frame Bass butchered the story. The narrative has been deconsructed and reassembled as some other story. It was only recognizable as part of the LOTR trillogy because of the characters. If you just have to get more Tolkien by this set knowing that the third is loosly baised on the book it is named after.

I love Peter Jackson's view of Middle-earth, but I like Rankin/Bass's and Ralph Bakshi's view on it even more. The reason? Because I love the plot flow and the feeling I get while watching these movies. The animation, voice acting, and music (score) in each film is fantastic! There is a lot of adventure, action, and fantasy in all three of these wonderful animated movies: THE HOBBIT, THE RETURN OF THE KING, and THE LORD OF THE RINGS. I highly recommend you buy this gift set if you are a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien's books.

This is animation from the late seventies/early eighties,folks!they didn't have the techniuqes and times to make it what it could've been.back then people were like"whoa!this is the greatest thing ever!"but by today's standards it is quite sub-par in animation and story authenticity,and that's why most people can't seem to give this trilogy five stars for other reasons they are too ignorant to notice.the music ,for one,is just plain awesome!in rotk,the orc's sing a slave song and the music that accompanies it is this crazy funk bassline,guitar,and drums!ALL the other music rules,too!plus,the films have the trippy old-style animated special effects(like the eye of sauron,when frodo and sam get crazed by the ring,and somthing tripped-out accompanies most every musical #)!
trust someone who knew what they were getting-get these dvd's purely for the trip-out,because YOU certainly will!(with a little smoke of the ever calming hobbit peace pipe!)

After having watching these movies for over 25 yrs,i was SO happy to finally find them on dvd. I open up the "Hobbit" and what do i hear? A soundtrack thats different from the original vhs version! I wish i had read some of these reviews before i bought this. Lost sound effects and voice work,say it ain't so! The most note worthy of these is when bilbo and the dwarves are in mirkwood and have been caught by the spiders. Bilbo goes to free them and kills the spiders. But wait! No humming sounds from sting! No sound when the spiders die! No sound when bilbo hits the spiders! Now this might seem like a "minor" thing,but i've loved those sounds since i was a young lad,and to NOT have these sfx in the movie is like not drinking water! Needless to say after that i took it out and haven't watched it since. I'm not gonna even bother with the other two. Do yourself a favor,skip these abominations and either get em on vhs or find someone with dvd recorder or get one yourself,get those tapes and make your own copies! You have been warned! By the way, i only gave it a one star because you have to rate it,otherwise a big ol' ZERO!