Animated ‘Lord of the Rings’ — last 600 copies!
Posted on May 13, 2009 at 8:00 am
Peter S. Beagle, who write the novel and screenplay for this week’s DVD pick, The Last Unicorn, also wrote the screenplay for the animated version of “Lord of the Rings,” the movie that inspired a kid named Peter Jackson to read the books and then grow up and make the live-action movie trilogy. The last 600 copies of the 1978 animated version of Lord of the Rings on DVD are now available exclusively from Conlan Press.
You realize this was one of the worst movies ever made – 47% on RottenTomatoes, 5.7/10 on IMDB, and just plain sleep inducing. It fizzles out about a third of the way into The Two Towers, and Rankin-Bass had to finish the story in a separate production. The only reason DVD’s of it exist was someone looked to cash a quick buck on fans impatient for the Peter Jackson version. If you’ve got the last 600 copies, good riddance!
Thanks, Kevin — 47% on RT is not that bad a rating, when you consider that some films are as low as 6%. It is far from perfect, but it has some good moments and may be a better introduction to the story for kids than the Peter Jackson films. I think Slate got it right:
“A showcase for inspired imagery and sheer strangeness, a near-miss magnum opus from another era, before the cult of Tolkien went Hollywood.”
This film tried too hard to do too much with too little time, resources, or expertise. It is certainly flawed, but it is still an amazing piece of work. The integration of live action and animation precedes cgi. Though it is not anywhere as neat or clean as CGI can be, it still captures some of the feeling of the story. Frank Miller has learned so much from this film that I am surprised he has not bought all the copies to use with his studio artists. I hope this film will not not Bakshi’s only legacy. He was someone willing to take risks and challenge preconceived notions of art, film, and story telling. He was truly the bridge between the sweet (cloying at worst) Disney films and the edgy, adult aspect of art and comedy. My own VHS copy has been watched several times – I may even order a DVD t replace my poor stretched video tape.
I own a copy of this movie on dvd and love it! Sure it was not perfect, but it was still good! The live-action animation was kind of strange, but cool at the same time. Though not perfect, the voice acting, music, and production values were good. And remember this film was made at a time when a live-action film of LOTR was thought impossible to make! At least be glad they tried! Even the rankin/bass cartoons were not bad, they were good too, but not as mature as this one, I think. And plus, I never knew Peter Jackson saw this film, let alone that it influenced his own version of LOTR (I had seen the simalarities between the two, and had thought that jackson might have taken some ideas from it, but did not know for certain). I think this film was important in the long run too, it was the first LOTR film to take the subject matter in a realistic way, I mean, just look at rankin/bass’ version of ‘the hobbit’ and ‘the return of the king’, while still fun, they made it into a childish fantasy, rather than an epic, realistic fantasy (the way it’s supposed to be taken in other words). I think this helped shape peter jackson’s own take on LOTR, and that is a gift from God!!!!! I am so glad jackson did not make some silly fairytale out of LOTR, that would have been such a disappointment. I mean the LOTR films (jackson’s) are some of the greatest films ever made, not to mention my favorite and probably the greatest movie trilogy of all time to boot (sorry Star Wars). If your a fan of LOTR, tolkien, fantasy, or animation in general I recommend the film, even the rankin and bass cartoons, they are not perfect, but they were still good! They definetly were not some of the worst movies ever made, not by a long shot!
Thanks for a GREAT comment, Middle-Earth! Much appreciated.