The Return of the King (1980) Reviews

	Richard G.

2 out of  2  people found this review helpful

The animation was classic, and the voice actiong in line with the story as it was being told... but the plot omissions and just plain ridiculous plot changes made this hard to watch for any1 who is a fan of the books... it might be acceptable for a young child who might not have read the books or ever know about the weakness of this version of the story. On the other hand children who are used to modern bright colored, fast moving cartoons very likely would find this movie flat and tedious. I said the acting was in line with the story as told.... the actors did well enough, but the characters were scripted to act very far outside the personalities as Tolkien portrayed.

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	Jody S.

1 out of  1  people found this review helpful

This is a very weak adaptation of a very strong detailed story. Unfortunately, the adaptation doesn't even resemble the original story told by Tolkein - but in the writers defense the movie is subtitled "A Hobbit's Story" so they did take more than their fair share of license with the story. The voice acting is weak at best. And very offensive to the Tolkein purists out there. Most of the names and locations are absolutely butchered by the actors, and let's face it: John Huston gave up acting and took up directing for a reason - his rendition of Gandalf is very flat. The story is very brooding and the soundtrack terribly depressing. If you want to see animation at it's lowest point (well, just slightly over the levels of the old early 70' Marvel superhero cartoons), or you have kids who love animationand want to introduce them to Tolkein, this may be okay. Although I wouldn't really recommend it to very many people.

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	Fred B.

0 out of  0  people found this review helpful

"Lord of the Rings" is not a children's book and more mature fans of the story will probably dislike this watered-down adaptation.

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	Brittney F.

0 out of  0  people found this review helpful

A classic! Any LOTR fan would enjoy, I particularly am a fan of this old style handrawn animation.

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	Eric F.

0 out of  0  people found this review helpful

I thoroughly enjoyed Rankin-Bass's production of The Hobbit with its rich animation, hokey but somehow endearing music, and adequate acting. So, I was shocked and dismayed by this far inferior adaptation of The Return of the King. Perhaps a lower budget and/or a tight deadline would explain the poor mockery of fine detail used in animating The Hobbit but with the same directors and actors, I can't understand why the storyline and performances were so lame. Perhaps Rankin and Bass were trying to ride the coat tails of their earlier success but they only managed to drag Tolkien's classic through the mud. For shame!

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	Rudy E.

1 out of  2  people found this review helpful

A dull and choppy cartoon. Too much naration and almost no action. Obviously very cheaply made. My child was bored and didn't like it. I don't recommend this to anyone, unless you want them to not like hobbits.

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	Melanie S.

1 out of  2  people found this review helpful

The animation and voice acting are really bad - reminds me of after school cartoons when I was a kid (what a waste of time). My kids did enjoy the story, and are interested in reading The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, now.

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	Kacey R.

1 out of  3  people found this review helpful

This movie was really bad and hard to understand. The live action version is way better than this! They also left out Legolas and Gimli in this movie. Don't waste your time with the cartoon versions of LOTR, watch the live-action versions instead.

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