Review of The Lord of the Rings (1978) by Karen S — 18 Jul 2015

This movie is nothing short of a disaster. I tried to come with an open mind but everything from the pacing to the animation was hard to stomach.

The most noteworthy part of this movie is its heavy use of rotoscoping, or animating by tracing live footage, and it does so inconsistently. The end product is a cast of cartoon characters surrounded by pseudo-live action extras. The effect is creepy and makes the animation look sloppy.

The plot is also extremely rushed. Rather than cutting extraneous plot to provide a better narrative Bakshi chooses to visit every plot point for 5 minutes. Yes, Bilbo has a birthday party, we visit Moria, we meet Galadriel, but each section is so short that it just serves to make the narrative more confusing. I can't imagine trying to watch this without already being familiar with the source material.

Lastly the characterization is nonexistent. Characters like Elrond, Legolas, and Gimli are little more than placeholders. Characters who DO get personalities are one dimensional and generally obnoxious (looking at you, Sam).

This movie was so, so painful to watch. If you want a TL;DR of this trainwreck watch the Prancing Pony scene and be thankful you skipped the other 2 hours.