Review of The Hobbit (1977) by Matthew G — 18 Nov 2012

For all intents and purposes, I found this Rankin-Bass adaptation of The Hobbit to be largely faithful to the novel it was based on. Sure enough, there were some changes, but much of the dialogue was retained word for word without putting any change to it. If you take into consideration that this movie was made when quality animation was taking a break, it doesn't look bad at all. In fact, it's really good animation, with some weird moments here and there. Bilbo looks decent enough, and I was surprised by the way Gollum appeared in here. The music is good, the songs remain faithful to the novel, and the "Greatest Adventure" theme that pops in from time to time sounds so catchy that it's hard to get it out of your head (thank God it's not as bad as Bakshi's "Naa na naaaa" Lord of the Rings theme, in which it *definitely* gets stuck in your head). The only problem was that some scenes were shortened or cut out altogether in the transition to make it seventy-six minutes long, so it's best if you read the novel before watching this film 'cause only then will it make more sense.

Although, despite that, it's not a bad way of being introduced to hobbits, elves, and dwarves. At the end of the day, I thought it was really charming.