Animated Tolkien

[Fredeghar Wayfarer]

Okay, since I've got this adorable little Bilbo avatar here (props to whoever made and/or found this, by the way), I thought I would ask how many of you have seen the animated adaptations of Tolkien's work. What do you think of them?

I first discovered Tolkien through Rankin-Bass' animated version of The Hobbit and it remains one of my favorite animated films. I love the design sense of the film-- the hobbits' cute round faces, the dwarves and trolls' bulbous noses, the eerie goblins with their huge gaping maws, the giant spiders and their fur-tufted antennae, etc. The voice acting is very good. Until I saw Ian McKellen's performance, John Huston WAS Gandalf to me. Orson Bean was a perfect Bilbo. The voice of Gollum (Theodore something?) was creepy and froglike with an unsettling hyperventillating laugh. I also very much enjoyed the music. Some might balk at turning Tolkien into a musical but there were songs and poems throughout his work so I thought it was appropriate.

Rankin-Bass' Return of the King is not nearly as good but I still enjoy it. It's oversimplified (Legolas, Gimli, and numerous others aren't even in the darn thing!) but there are still many great moments. The voice acting's a bit uneven. Great work by Roddy McDowall as Sam and Orson Bean yet again as the hero, not so great from Casey Kasem as Pippin and whoever that Masters of the Universe reject that played the Witch-King was. But again, the design of the film is beautiful and the songs capture my heart. I soooo wanted to hear the phrase "Where there's a whip, there's a way!" from an orc in the live action film. ;D

The only animated Tolkien I really disliked was Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings. I've never been much of a Bakshi fan and I didn't think his sensibilities were a good mix for the material. The art style and many of the voice actors didn't appeal to me. The script seemed uneven and awkward (I swear Saruman was called "Aruman" at one point before the screenwriter changed his mind). And then there's the fact that it stops halfway through the story, promising a sequel that never came. There was some interesting stuff going on with rotoscoping (where they film live actors and animate over them) but even that looked very awkward at times, especially the Balrog scene. A noble effort overall but not quite good enough.

So what does everyone else think?

[Desi Baggins]

I have all of those DVD's! I basically bought them for my son, but I also wanted them for my LotR collection. I love the Hobbit! The singing is so funny, but at the same time it makes the songs and poems from the book come a live. The LotR DVd I can't stand I hate the way it was animated and the characters clothing looks silly, except maybe Legolas looks good. RotK was then done again by Rankin-Bass so it is back to the normal animation which I liked, but as you mentioned they left out so many characters! I wish Rankin-Bass could go and do the LotR (FotR & TTT) cuz then maybe the whole series would flow a lot better. It is kind of strange how RotK starts up, but I guess it was the best way they could do it. My son goes around singing "Frodo of the 9 fingers" all the time!

I found the still of Bilbo somewhere and I added the animated smoke rings! I just love the Hobbits so I had to have fun with that picture! Glad you like it!

[Fredeghar Wayfarer]

(Reposting this from TheOneRing.net since I was talking about the movie with people over there)

I recently found a copy of Bakshi's version for pretty cheap so I decided to give it a second chance. I ended up enjoying it more than the first time I saw it. It covers a decent chunk of the story in a pretty economical way. The prologue in shadow is an interesting technique. Most of the characters are well acted and consistent with the book (though I still dislike many of the designs. Seriously, where are Aragorn's pants?). John Hurt was pretty awesome, as he usually is. Overall, it's a better movie than I remembered.

I still feel the same about my main issues though -- the rotoscoping and the Saruman/Aruman thing. The rotoscoping just looks ugly and awkward to me. It doesn't blend well with the other animation. It's distracting and takes me out of the story. As for Saruman's changing name, I just find that baffling. Didn't Bakshi notice this while editing the film? Was there a rush to get it in theaters so he wasn't able to rerecord dialogue?

I think I will always prefer the Rankin/Bass movies but Bakshi did a fairly decent interpretation. Too bad he didn't get to finish it.

[Fredeghar Wayfarer]

Slightly off topic but I also bought a copy of The Black Cauldron, another movie I had mixed feelings about because of how different it was from the book (we were talking about this on another thread here on Tolkien's Ring so I thought I'd mention it). This surprised me as well and was better than I remembered. I guess I had made my peace with the changes Disney made and just accepted it on its own merits.

I still hate the cutesy little fairies (totally different than what the book describes). I wish they hadn't cut Arawn, the main villain. The story is highly condensed and there were a few other details here and there that bugged me. But otherwise, it's a decent movie.

[Andorinha]

Absolutely hated the Ralph Bakshi material. Saw it when it first came out, in an almost empty theatre. Rotoscoping, eh? By any name it did not work for us, it seemed to stand out too greatly in distinction from the "fully animated" scenes. Have not seen it since, garsh, was that 40 years ago? Maybe I'll see if I can find a rental, it might have "redeeming features" overlooked in our disappointment way back then. I do remember we all agreed that the technology of out current times (1970s was it?) was just not capable of presenting the Tolkien experience...

On the other hand, I enjoyed the non-pretentious Rankin and Bass Hobbit sufficiently to actually buy a used VHS copy, occasionally still view it with high satisfaction.

RE Fredeghar's 1/10/05: "Some might balk at turning Tolkien into a musical but there were songs and poems throughout his work so I thought it was appropriate."

Worked for me on the initial viewing, still works, and, like you Frd., I thought it appropriate as a "partial" musical. Would actually have preferred PJ to have done a close version of R&B's Hobbit, of course with the Beorn scenes included. Hmm, will PJ do the Beorn stuff? Wonder how he might handle the "animal servants" of our giant Skin Changer? He skipped the lyrical Tom Bombadil stuff for LOTR, bet he skips over Beorn too, grrr.

Grrr, found PJ's head-butting, food belching Dwarves offensive, not amusing, but I suppose that's a generational thing? Garsh, I feel old, LOL been out rock climbing lately with a bunch of 20 year olds whose own version of the "kool, daddy lingo" is definitively not my beat generation jive. Sigh, at least they respect me as a "fossilized legend" of the past, back when real men climbed on hemp ropes and nylon was unobtainable... Feel like Bilbo telling stories of the olde dayes to the youngsters.

Did not know they had made a version of Lloyd Alexander's material, shall seek it out!

[Fredeghar Wayfarer]

Jan 24, 2013 22:52:07 GMT -6 Andorinha said:

Did not know they had made a version of Lloyd Alexander's material, shall seek it out!

It's a Disney-fied version of Lloyd Alexander so much more cutesy and fairy tale-like, less mythological. I hated it initially but could see its charm this time around. I dislike the changes to the story but it does a good job with most of the characters. It's a noble but flawed attempt at a darker, more mature animated movie.

As a Prydain movie, it's lacking but as a Disney movie, it's not bad. I divorced myself from my preconceived notions and just tried to enjoy it for what it was.

[Stormrider]

Beorn will be in PJ's Hobbit movie. Mikael Persbrandt has been cast in that role. www.theonering.net/torwp/2012/12/03/66521-jackson-persbrandt-to-gain-larger-role-in-the-hobbit/However, I can't tell from the article whether the talking animals will be included or not!

[Andorinha]

Alright! Now that will be interesting to see, yeah, no mention about how closely or not they'll follow the book. Thanks for the url, Stormrider!

Also got to see a few Black Cauldron shots on YouTube, they may have a full copy at the library...

[Stormrider]

Just found this link on The Hobbit cartoon by Rankin/Bass. Wish I had a copy of it to watch.

www.tor.com/2020/09/25/rankin-bass-the-hobbit-predicted-the-future-of-pop-culture/

[Fredeghar Wayfarer]

Good article. It's nice to see a positive review of the movie. I've seen a lot of people speak ill of it for its unusual character designs and dated 1970s aesthetics. But I absolutely love this movie. Aside from some of the design choices, I think it's a better adaptation of the book than the live action films.

As far as a copy to watch, it looks like you can rent it on YouTube. Also there may be a free version or two on there that someone uploaded (not strictly legal but sometimes you can find stuff on YouTube before the studios have it removed).