Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated adaptation of The Lord of the Rings is a bold, colourful, ambitious failure. Severely truncated, this two-hour version tackles only about half the story, climaxing with the battle of Helm's Deep and leaving poor Frodo and Sam still stuck on the borders of Mordor with Gollum. Allegedly, the director ran out of money and was unable to complete the project. As far as the film does go, however, it is a generally successful attempt at rendering Tolkien's landscapes of the imagination. Bakshi's animation uses a blend of conventional drawing and... rotoscoped (traced) animated movements from live-action footage. The latter is at least in part a money-saving device, but it does succeed in lending some depth and a sense of otherworldly menace to the Black Riders and hordes of Orcs: Frodo's encounter at the ford of Rivendell, for example, is one of the movie's best scenes thanks to this mixture of animation techniques. Backdrops are detailed and well-conceived, and all the main characters are strongly drawn. Among a good cast, John Hurt (Aragorn) and C3PO himself, Anthony Daniels (Legolas), provide sterling voice characterisation, while Peter Woodthorpe gives what is surely the definitive Gollum (he revived his portrayal a couple of years later for BBC Radio's exhaustive 13-hour dramatisation). The film's other outstanding virtue is avant-garde composer Leonard Rosenman's magnificent score in which chaotic musical fragments gradually coalesce to produce the triumphant march theme that closes the picture. None of which makes up for the incompleteness of the movie, nor the severe abridging of the story actually filmed. Add to that some oddities--such as intermittently referring to Saruman as "Aruman"--and the final verdict must be that this is a brave yet ultimately unsatisfying work, noteworthy as the first attempt at transferring Tolkien to the big screen but one whose virtues are overshadowed by incompleteness. --Mark Walker [show more]
In my Opinion Ralph Bakshi"s The Lord Of the Rings is one of cinemas greatest and most important failures. Thanks to this heavily flawed work, animators have learnt valuable lessons and ensured that the mistakes apparent in this picture never happen again.
It is as most people will know an adaptation of J..R.R Tolkiens mammoth fantasy classic, and most people will also be aware that in recent years Peter Jackson made three brilliant live action movies from the same source material so Tolkien"s novels cant be faulted for this pictures failings. The movie starts with a prologue badly done by shadow actors. It contains a fair amount of information and several supposedly epic sequences but they simply appear cheap and confusing, having a direct knock on effect for the rest of the feature.
So with the tacky and muddled opening over, we go right onto meet the tales main protagonists. We"ve got Frodo, Sam, Gandalf, Merry and Pippen. Gandalf and Frodo are well drawn and voiced creations, but the rest aren"t so hot. Sam may with his deranged British accent be one of the most irritating animated characters ever to grace the silver screen. Mary and Pippen simply stink of laziness, both looking and sounding identical. These are two of the stories chief personality"s and their identical attributes just makes the film ever murkier and hard to follow. Other characters Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and Boromir are all ample with the only major actor present within the whole production being John Hurt, who"s gruff tone suits Aragorn very well.
However now after that, the vaguest of compliments it is time to highlight the films biggest flaw. The style of animation used is called Rotoscoping. This consists of acting out the scenes in live action, the painting over the actors and placing these newly animated characters against traditional 2D backgrounds. Now there are a couple oo instances were this technique works quite well, the spooky Black riders and the Orcs are effective for instance but most of the time it"s stark and ugly. The 2D backgrounds and rotoscoping just don"t go well together, this is however an important lesson, and one that is better learnt for future generation"s sake.
That is without doubt the films biggest gripe, but still not the last of them. Thanks to a lack of money Backshi was not able to complete the film satisfactorily or even get a sequel made. This makes the movie an even less filling cinematic experience, and has got to be considered a major flaw. Now after all this bitching I feel the need to justify the 2 stars I"ve given this picture. For a start several of the sequences that do work are among the 70"s finest. The first appearance of the Black rider is creepy and chilling, certainly a highlight within the picture. Other sequences that go well are the scenes involving Orc attacks in the mines and at the films climax.
It"s also commendable that Backshi would attempt such an ambitious project without anything to look at apart from the pages of a book. Its also worth noting that Peter Jackson when he embarked on his adaptations, had Backshi"s film to look at and learn from, for this project the filmmakers had a much tougher task in pre- production and surely their bravery and ambition are worth something. The movie is enjoyable enough, and if you are familiar with Tolkien"s books or Jackson"s films, it"s easy enough to follow, though on it"s own merits it"s hard to keep track of the tale.
In conclusion whilst the film has dodgy animation, an unfinished finale and some blatantly annoying characters it does also boast some great sequences. Plus it"s worth remembering and sparing a thought for Ralph Bakshi and his crew. In many ways thanks to this flawed piece of cinema Peter Jackson gave us one of the finest trilogy"s of all time, and thanks is something it truly deserves.
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Ralph Bakshi's animated version of the seminal fantasy trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkein, made by overlaying animation on live action actors (a unique pre-computer graphics technique). Set in the fictional world of Middle Earth, The Lord of the Rings tells the epic story of Frodo, a Hobbit who must defeat the evil figure Sauron who holds the Ring of Power, which controls the fate of all Middle Earth. On the way he and his band of friends and cousins must do battle with Black Riders, a Balrog and various other animated perils.
Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 or region free DVD player in order to play. Ralph Bakshi's animated version of the seminal fantasy trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkein, made by overlaying animation on live action actors (a unique pre-computer graphics technique). Set in the fictional world of Middle Earth, The Lord of the Rings tells the epic story of Frodo, a Hobbit who must defeat the evil figure Sauron who holds the Ring of Power, which controls the fate of all Middle Earth. On the way he and his band of friends and cousins must do battle with Black Riders, a Balrog and various other animated perils. Actors: Christopher Guard, William Squire, Michael Scholes, John Hurt, Simon Chandler Directors: Ralph Bakshi Writers: Chris Conkling, J.R.R. Tolkien, Peter S. Beagle Producers: Saul Zaentz Language: English Subtitles: Arabic, Bulgarian, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish Dubbed: French, Italian Number of discs: 1
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