Barnes & Noble

Based on the first book-and-a-half of J.R.R. Tolkien's enduring, three-tome Lord of the Rings cycle, animator Ralph Bakshi's 1978 film is itself a time-tested classic. In no way your typical children's movie, it captures Tolkien's imagination in a much darker way than the Ring films produced by Rankin & Bass, The Hobbit and The Return of the King. Bakshi winds through Tolkien's first Ring volume, The Fellowship of the Ring, with mystical aplomb, making great use of rotoscoping, a virtually abandoned animation process that involves drawing over live-action film. The process lends a dreamlike effect as characters move over dark landscapes, making Tolkien's mythical Middle-earth an appropriately eerie and fantastic world. The story remains familiar, following hobbit Frodo Baggins in his travels to the site where the legendary ring was forged. There the ring must be destroyed -- for, in the wrong hands, its power can be catastrophic. Along the way, Frodo surrounds himself with the likes of Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf the Wizard, and a slew of other fascinating creatures sure to stir nostalgia in all who have read and loved the cherished series. Thankfully, director Peter Jackson's 2001 live-action adaptation has renewed interest in the fantasy saga and given reason to celebrate the inspired visions of both the Bakshi and Rankin & Bass. R.J. Wafer

All Movie Guide

Controversial animator Ralph Bakshi's literal adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic fantasy trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, is brought to the screen in a reverent, stilted way, with Bakshi forsaking his sharp-edged animated looniness for a rotoscoped dullness. Although the film's title encompasses the entire Tolkien trilogy, this longish Bakshi feature, in fact, covers only the first book, The Fellowship of the Ring, and the first half of the second, The Two Towers. Given the complexity of the original story line, this unfortunately means that only those intimately familiar with the books will be able to understand what is happening in the movie. In brief, however, an evil sorcerer from a previous era created a magical ring which enables its users to call upon its tremendous powers to rule the world, but it inevitably warps them to evil. It was believed lost, but during a resurgence of magical evil in the world, Bilbo, a simple, plain-spoken hobbit, recovers it from its hiding place. The forces of good give his nephew Frodo the choice to bear the awful burden of the ring to a place where it may be destroyed. Clarke Fountain

Product Details

• UPC: 085393740825
• Source: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital, stereo, monaural
• Language: English, Français
• Subtitles: English, Français, Español, Mandarin, Portugais, Japanese
• Time: 2:14:00
• Sales Rank: 2,947

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