LORD OF THE RINGS (1978)
Rated PG for some intense images
Starring Christopher Guard, William Squire, Michael Scholes and John Hurt (voices)

CineSight Rating 1/2

Set in the mythic lands of Middle Earth, THE LORD OF THE RINGS involves a hobbit named Frodo (Guard), Gandalf (Squire)the wizard, and the brave band who accompany them on a terrible mission. They must take a powerful magic ring into the heart of the evil land of Mordor. There, Frodo must destroy it before it falls into the hands of Sauron, who seeks it in order to control all of Middle Earth. With huge armies of wolves, orcs and trolls at his command, the odds are very much against the small, stealthy group...

DVD Features * Widescreen Only Format * Scene Selection * Cast and Crew Bios * Author Biography * Languages : English, French * Subtitles : English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Thai, Korean, Japanese

CineSight Comments

This animated film by director Ralph Bakshi (COOL WORLD) is a brave experiment in telling a story that many have said was unfilmable; trying to condense JRR Tolkien's 1,000-plus page epic into a 2-hour movie is quite literally impossible. Bakshi had intended to make it in two parts, but unfortunately funds never materialized to complete the tale. Although the movie ends half way through the story, Warner Bros. have attempted to provide a sense of closure for the DVD through a final voice-over. But you still can't shake the feeling that the film doesn't end, it just stops.

Having said that, Bakshi and company must be commended for the meticulous and time consuming approach they took on the project. Many scenes were actually filmed first with the live actors in costume. Then artists rotoscoped (traced and colored) the images frame by frame, to create an etheral, psychadelic otherworld. Whilst being unique and memorable, the effect is sometimes jarring when it is meshed with traditional cell animation, and tends to distract from the power of the story itself.

Made before the days when every step of production was recorded for posterity, TV specials and the inevitable DVD Special edition, this disk offers little in the way of extras. Of course, the plethora of subtitle languages could provide hours of entertainment for those so inclined. But as with all great movies, here the story is king.