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

J.R.R. Tolkien Animated Films Set (The Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings/The Return of the King)
by Arthur Rankin Jr., Jules Bass, Ralph Bakshi

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

DVD Review: Animating Interpretations
Summary: 4 Stars

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 Nazgûl, 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.

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