Has anyone seen the animated version?

[Lady Ravyn]

those were sort of...strange...
did anyone else think gollum looked like a frog and that all the orcs resembled bulldogs? O.o

[AL.D]

If you want to see a funny, and pretty one-sided review of the Ralph Bakshi animated version of LotR go here:

http://flyingmoose.org/tolksarc/bakshi/bakshi.htm

Personally I don't think the film is a complete disaster, as it has some funky design, (the Black riders are pretty creepy). However, as an actual book adaptation...it's quite awful.

The above website picks up on an unforgivable error. They've actually changed Saruman's name in the film to 'Aruman', maybe so as not to be confused with the name 'Sauron'!?! But the problem is that it's only changed for some of the time. Sometimes he's called Saruman...sometimes Aruman!

And for that alone, it should be looked upon very sceptically.

Another interesting fact about the film, is that Anthony Daniels, who plays C3PO in Star Wars, is the voice of Legolas!

[Twista]

In my opinion its a bit rubbish lol, and yes, Gollum did look like a frog lol.

[mithrand1r]

Originally posted by azalea
Sam -- horribly animated and characterized. This is one of the things that made me sick.

Agreed. It did not mak me sick, but sam did not look right. Sam from the RB version of ROTK was better.

Originally posted by azalea
The use of roto-scope was a very bad decision. VERY bad. . . . (does that make sense to anyone?)

Unfortunately, I understand all too well. I would have prefered a consistant animation style. Most of the film was animated in an acceptable fashion (as far as animation goes) but the roto-scope makes it look as if a cartoon is in the real world (like Roger Rabbit or Tony the Tiger)

Originally posted by azalea
The orcs -- these have to be the very worst aspect of the movie. I think this was the other main thing that made me ill. They look like a bunch of guys wearing fake tribal masks. They are so poorly conceptualized by whomever was responsible for them.
The nazgul weren't much better. They practically looked palsied.

I agree with the Orcs. I thought the Nazgul were fine, for the most part. The one in the beginning looked comical with the sniffing and limping he was doing when near Frodo and the ring.

Originally posted by azalea
The final shot that shows Gandalf in slow motion killing an orc, and all the blood shooting up out of it -- yuck, what a bad way to end the movie.

You mean you do not like LOTR being turned into D&D hack and slash fest with slow motion animation?!

[azalea]

Originally posted by mithrand1r
Sam from the RB version of ROTK was better.

I agree, definately.

You mean you do not like LOTR being turned into D&D hack and slash fest with slow motion animation?!

Lol!

I realized looking back on my post that I forgot to include any positives -- I did want to mention that despite all of my criticisms, I could see some real care going into it. For instance, although a lot was cut out, and some parts changed, you can tell they really were trying to make it doable as a movie, yet seamless, while keeping it as close as possible to the text. There were a lot of lines and interactions from the book that were nice to have in there.

[Cassius]

Ha ha! This post signifies the triumphant return of Cassius!

On the subject, the first exposure to Tolkien (sadly) for me was the Hobbit animated feature. I only realize now the...um...badness of it, after revisiting it a month or two ago. It sticked to the story nice enough for a cartoon on a low budget, but the animation and voice acting leaves something to be wanted.

-Congrats Sister Golden Hair for those nifty anti-bashing posts! I feel safe now -

[Fewin Greenleaf]

sadly, i haven't seen one. where can i get this animated version? can anyone please tell me coz i'd really love to see it?

[brownjenkins]

it's on the cartoon network tonight if you get that where you are... they had the hobbit on last night... you can also buy it through amazon i believe

[Fewin Greenleaf]

oh, ok. thanks!

[barrelrider110]

Gollum looked like a mutant frog in the Rankin Bass Hobbit, but I thought Bakshi did a pretty good job with Smeagol in LotR. He pretty much stuck to the Tolkien story line, but I agree with Azalea about the rotoscope. I imagine it's cheaper to animate that way, and Bakshi ran out of money halfway through. He promised to use proceeds from the first half to finish the job.

I remember when it came out in theatres--not too many mooters can say that--I was pretty excited. I got there and there was only a handfull of people there, and half of them walked out before the movie was over. I thought never in a million years is someone going to try this again...

[azalea]

Hey, I remember when it came out, but my mom wouldn't let me see it -- she thought it was too violent! I was ! (Well, I was just a kid! )

[barrelrider110]

Originally posted by azalea
Hey, I remember when it came out, but my mom wouldn't let me see it -- she thought it was too violent! I was ! (Well, I was just a kid! )

Interesting comment, Az. I remember reading something about the Hobbit animated movie, that the action was dumbed-down there were concerns because at the time about violence on Television.

Perhaps it's my way of looking at things, but I thougt the action in the a- LotR was really corny.

[Hawklan]

iI too was a sweet teen when the Bashki version came out and I loved it - remember there was only the BBC radio version around at about that time ( bit before or after,the mind deceives me sometimes ). Cartoons , sorry animated films were pretty poor quality compared with today, but if its cutting edge at the time then you cant really compare it with anything else can you. It should be remembered that it was the first animation to show slow motion ( i hear you gasp from hear ) and most of the movie was actually filmed with "live" actors and then basically coloured in later. This gave us some really freaky visuals - indeed many a Friday night was spent after the pub watching the "freaky" cartoon. I still have my programme from the opening night when I saw it in Liverpool and I will remember it fondly.

[AntiXZer01]

I just saw an animated version on some cartoon chanel on tv some time ago. It looked awful! Saruman looked more like Santa clause in a red cloak. And aragorn in a subligar!!!!! Horrible! It was funny to laugh at but wow that was scary!

[Mrs Maggot]

For anyone who wants to read a very scathing review of Bakshi's Lord of the Rings, i found this…
http://flyingmoose.org/tolksarc/bakshi/bakshi.htm

It's from a great place called 'the Tolkien Sarcasm page' Very funny.

[Something]

I have seen TLOTR, The Hobbit and TROTK as animated movies.

[trolls' bane]

Once I saw the first five minutes .

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

i watched it the other day,
to me it looked like the nazgul were drunk, swaying from side to side, and then they started singing to each other after attacking the beds at the prancing pony, what was all that about!!??!!
and what the hell was up with gandalf's weird hand gestures?
gandalf: that ring is alltogether (insert unnecessary arm sweeping movement) evil frodo.

and why did sam look about 80 years old?
and he sounded like he was from somerset, which i suppose is right for his character
and why did treebeard look like a giant carrot?
and why were all the orcs lounging around on the floor when (S)Aruman was telling them to go off to helms deep?
and why did the balrog look like a lion with bat wings, and why were there only about 10 orcs in moria?
i have lots more questions like this!! but this is enough for now!!

[brownjenkins]

i caught it again on tv a few weeks back... we were cracking up the whole time, it does have that 'so bad it's funny' quality about it

[The Nameless One]

"and what the hell was up with gandalf's weird hand gestures?
gandalf: that ring is alltogether (insert unnecessary arm sweeping movement) evil frodo."


That is probably the worst thing about that movie. It seems like the animator was so concerned about the movements of the caracters and their fluid like motion, that he totally forgot about the movie itself It's kinda made me sick watching them move like that.....especially when their moving CONSTANTLY! I don't think any character stoped moving once in the movie Even when a character like Sam is just standing in the background, not really the focus of attention or anything, his face muscules are in constant motion. What's up with that! Like he's switching emotions by the second. It kinda makes me feel ancy and it's hard to watch a movie when all the characters look like their on crack.