Review of The Lord of the Rings (1978) by Harry C — 19 Apr 2011

While many people pan this movie for its dark imagery and its inappropriateness for children, this movie was never intended for younger audiences anyway. Despite a few pronunciation problems and the patchy animation near the end, the plot of the movie actually sticks remarkably closely to the book, as do most of the characters. (Sam being the biggest exception...) In itself, the movie is a piece of art: it's a great pity the movie was never finished, as I would have loved to see how Bakshi did the insides of Mount Doom.

Also, I do not think that this movie can or should be compared to Peter Jackson's recent trilogy. PJ's movie had a huge budget, a lot of time, star actors, and all the benefits of modern CGI. Bakshi did not have much money, his time got cut short, and he was limited tot eh animation techniques of the 1970's. Comparing the two is like comparing apples and oranges, no matter what the Nostalgia Critic might say.