The Lord of the Rings (1978)

50% of critics liked it
(20 reviews)
74% of users liked it
(448,792 ratings)

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… More 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, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: PG, 2 hr. 12 min.
Directed By: Ralph Bakshi
Genres: Drama, Animation, Kids & Family, Science Fiction & Fantasy

In Theaters: Nov 15, 1978 Wide
On DVD: Sep 11, 2001

Critic Reviews

Sandie Angulo Chen, Common Sense Media
Animated adventure too dated and dark for younger kids.
Rob Vaux, Sci-Fi Movie Page
The live action version trumps it in every conceivable way; there simply is no comparison. And yet Middle Earth is still better off for its presence.
Sean Axmaker, Seanax.com
... dark and fantastical with a mature approach rare in animated films of its day, and Bakshi's rotoscope process creates an unusually fluid and expressive style.
Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
... in retrospect it feels like an elegant, appropriately sized adaptation - with some beautiful animation work.
Christian Blauvelt, Slant Magazine
Not even the Dark Lord Sauron would want to put his name to this movie.

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Bethany M

Hated it, bored me!
AJ V

Bakshi's version of Lord of the Rings, which is of course animated, is good, I enjoyed it, sometimes there are fantasy elements that can only be brought to life in the animated form. The movie follows very close to the book, and the characters look just as I expected them to. I… More
Bakshi's version of Lord of the Rings, which is of course animated, is good, I enjoyed it, sometimes there are fantasy elements that can only be brought to life in the animated form. The movie follows very close to the book, and the characters look just as I expected them to. I enjoyed this version.
Phil H

Now this is much better than the live action movies. Its done with rotoscoping and looks great. Very dark, brooding and alittle eerie, especially the orges and the landscapes. It really looks sooo good, the animation is also good for the time and combines some live action in there too… More
Now this is much better than the live action movies. Its done with rotoscoping and looks great. Very dark, brooding and alittle eerie, especially the orges and the landscapes. It really looks sooo good, the animation is also good for the time and combines some live action in there too which sounds odd but does work. The voice work is another main winner here, it makes the whole thing rise above your expectations and lift it out of the realms of a 'cartoon', every character is perfect and adds realism to the film, Hurt offering that real classic touch. This is how the Lord of the Rings should have been.
EightThirty .

11/03/2010 (DVD) A brave attempt but it didn't do it for me. It was probably legendary at its released date and I must say, there were some pretty interesting animation ideas that sort of surprised me knowing how pretty old this flick is. Its funny when we say "No… More
11/03/2010 (DVD) A brave attempt but it didn't do it for me. It was probably legendary at its released date and I must say, there were some pretty interesting animation ideas that sort of surprised me knowing how pretty old this flick is. Its funny when we say "No offense" just before we offend someone, well, "no offense" to those who gave more than 2 stars but it bored the crap out of me, but I'm glad it tickled your bum. (Remember "No offense") It must be because I saw "Peter Jackson's" version, and as a result I find it hard to enjoy it and appreciate its true value. (Let's blame Peter!) Anyway, check it out if you still desire.
Tim S

It's not the best adaptation of the story, but it does bear that unmistakable Bakshi mark of quality. I enjoy it mostly for that reason.
Conner R

An extremely bizarre and chaotic version of Lord Of The Rings. It would make absolutely no sense to someone who isn't familiar with the series and has some of the most odd interpretations of characters/settings. The only thing that I actually liked about this movie was the blend… More
An extremely bizarre and chaotic version of Lord Of The Rings. It would make absolutely no sense to someone who isn't familiar with the series and has some of the most odd interpretations of characters/settings. The only thing that I actually liked about this movie was the blend of animation next to live action, it is incredibly interesting to look at.
Anthony L

I really liked it as a kid! What was the name of that little furry animal and who was it supposed to be again?
Dan S

Not bad, but not fantastic
Lafe F

The 1978 Ralph Bakshi animated version of "The Lord of the Rings" is a snooze-fest that ends up putting me to sleep almost every time. The plotting is good for covering "The Fellowship of the Ring", but then it gets muddled as it delves into "The Two… More
The 1978 Ralph Bakshi animated version of "The Lord of the Rings" is a snooze-fest that ends up putting me to sleep almost every time. The plotting is good for covering "The Fellowship of the Ring", but then it gets muddled as it delves into "The Two Towers" events. I got sooo confused with what was going on. The rotoscoped animation offered realistic movement, but sketchy and inconsistent details. Sometimes the cels used backgrounds of colored lights to convey the magical effects in some scenes. The Leonard Rosenman musical score was epic, dramatic and an up-beat military march. It bothered the heck out of me they did not make another movie to finish the story! Instead, we got the cheapass made-for-TV "Return of the King" with its tacky songs and oafish animation.
xGary X

Muddled and overly ambitious attempt to animate Tolkien's novel; it's penchant for "cheating" and just including sections of live action that's been rotoscoped looks a mess and the fact that it just abruptly ends in the middle of the story makes it feel like a… More
Muddled and overly ambitious attempt to animate Tolkien's novel; it's penchant for "cheating" and just including sections of live action that's been rotoscoped looks a mess and the fact that it just abruptly ends in the middle of the story makes it feel like a bit of a waste of time, really.
Steve B

It's not that I'm against LotR, I'm just not a big fan of Ralph Bakshi.
Sophie B

confusing stuff
Michael G

So bad it's good.
Lanning :

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Cameron J

A strong hook and fair animation are met by a lack of engagement, weak editing, expendable scenes, some feeling of repetition, a cop-outastic ending and some bad dialogue. Well, at least the dialogue isn't "Two Towers" bad. Still, that's not to say that it's… More
A strong hook and fair animation are met by a lack of engagement, weak editing, expendable scenes, some feeling of repetition, a cop-outastic ending and some bad dialogue. Well, at least the dialogue isn't "Two Towers" bad. Still, that's not to say that it's any where close to the live-actions in quality. Of course, I'm not here to compare, I'm here to say that Ralph Bakshi's adaptation of "Lord of the Rings" is a fair, but generally underwhelming film.
Grant B

Nothing compared to the beauty and vision of Peter Jackson's version of the beloved series
Yinalí R

Of course, all of these movies deserve a 5...
Sunil J

Hate this animation and this music
The S

This much maligned version of Tolkien's classic story is actually very good. On the positive side it is appropriately dark (this is NOT a kids' story), it is well voiced, the genuine animation is excellent and the plot keeps pretty close to the book. On the negative side… More
This much maligned version of Tolkien's classic story is actually very good. On the positive side it is appropriately dark (this is NOT a kids' story), it is well voiced, the genuine animation is excellent and the plot keeps pretty close to the book. On the negative side some of the animation is the inferior (and cheaper) rotoscoped live action, the sound track is a quite weak, it does not complete the story and, with no sequel, it never does. A shame because, at its best, it's excellent.
Marion R

this was really cool. Older animation of The lord Of the Rings. Used to watch when I was younger and it's still pretty cool.