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The Lord of the Rings (1978 Animated Movie) [Blu-ray]
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Genre | Kids & Family, Animation |
Format | Animated, Subtitled, Color, Multiple Formats, Widescreen, Blu-ray |
Contributor | Christopher Guard, William Squire, Ralph Bakshi, John Hurt |
Language | English, French, German, Spanish |
Runtime | 2 hours and 14 minutes |
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Product Description
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. 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.
Product details
- Aspect Ratio : 1.85:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
- Product Dimensions : 6.75 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches; 0.01 ounces
- Item model number : 883929085088
- Director : Ralph Bakshi
- Media Format : Animated, Subtitled, Color, Multiple Formats, Widescreen, Blu-ray
- Run time : 2 hours and 14 minutes
- Release date : April 6, 2010
- Actors : Christopher Guard, William Squire, John Hurt
- Dubbed: : Spanish
- Subtitles: : English
- Language : English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby TrueHD 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 1.0), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
- Studio : Warner Home Video
- ASIN : B001PQZYR2
- Number of discs : 1
- Best Sellers Rank: #93,942 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #563 in Fantasy Blu-ray Discs
- Customer Reviews:
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For those of you not familiar with Lord of the Rings this movie retells the first book, Fellowship of the Ring and about half of the second book, The Two Towers, into one film. An evil being of immeasurable power (Sauron) is coming back to lay claim to the lands, and all it needs to secure his dominance is a single ring that holds much of his power. A band of adventurers are tasked to take the ring to the only place they know where it can be destroyed. On top of that a prominent king is about to overthrown by forces aligned with Sauron, which members of the fellowship go to aid. Tolkien's story of the ring is pretty much the definitive blueprint for just about every fantasy setting written about since.
Bakshi's version is a hybrid animated film that is both rotoscoped cell drawn animation and posterized and shaded live footage. The rotoscoped animation in my opinion is right up there among the best. More on the posterization later. Animation helps give Bakshi the ability to put on film those fantasy elements that would simply not look right in a live action setting. Hobbits can be in their proper size and dimension. Fantasy creatures like the Balrog can be realized (and though Bakshi's Balrog looks very different from any other rendition I find it a really cool version of the creature). And in taking the best parts of Tolkien's work for the script you get some eloquent dialog between the characters.
Bakshi made Lord of the Rings with a love of the original books, and was dedicated in making a movie as true to Tolkien's work as possible. Dialog comes straight from the books, as do almost all of the scenes. I say almost because there are a few embellishments put in to either enhance parts of the book that only mentions an event (for dramatic effect) or as a subtle change for aesthetic reasons. The more significant changes really made a difference in terms of that dramatic effect, and can be seen in Jackson's movies as well. For one there is a scene where the Ring Wraiths attempt to assassinate the Hobbits while they sleep to only be tricked by decoys. Another was Boromir's death, where he valiantly tries to protect his comrades against impossible odds. These scenes were only mentioned in the books, but not actually visualized note by note. Not only did Bakshi do a great visualization of these events the exact scenes were adapted to Jackson's movies as well (to great effect). Other changes that both Bakshi and Jackson did (that could be a total coincidence) was to make a scene on Gandalf's capture by Saruman (only mentioned in the book) and change the character that arrives to the rescue with Gandalf to Helm's Deep (Eomir instead of Erkenbrand). Ultimately if you love Jackson's LotR you have to give a not to Bakshi for some of the inspiration.
There are things that Bakshi did in his movies I actually prefer over Jackson's version. Take Galadriel's "test" speech for one. Jackson directed that dialog with a healthy dose of dramatic effect that makes me feel it was way overdone and made the mood artificially heightened. With Bakshi the same speech was more playful with Galadriel in more control of her emotions, thus ended with what feels like a more mature dialog. Other little details come up like Aragorn just feels more regal and commanding in Bakshi's version and the interaction between the hobbits felt more personal without being over dramatic. Also I like Gollum's semi-comical approach with some of the dialog (the sneaking dialog I like best). These are more my preferences, but I wanted to at least point out the things I feel were done right.
So that's what's done right. Now what was done wrong? Mainly the second half of the movie. Remember that posterization process of animation I mentioned earlier? What you essentially get from that is live action footage (actors in period garb and swords and everything) that is colored and textured to look more like it's animation. It's not a bad process, but you already have half the movie done in a different process. When the scenes that show the posterized characters come you see a glaring contrast. Then you start getting complete scenes that are all posterized that just look cheap when compared to the cell animation. You see the cheap masks the actors are wearing to denote they are orcs, and characters who were previously shaded now look totally different. I understand that Bakshi preferred this process because the actor's subtle emotions can be better expressed, but if you ask me the cell drawings even did that better.
Another thing that sticks to my craw are a few of the characters. Boromir for one looks like a freakin' viking. Now don't get me wrong. I can see where that comes from. If you read Tolkien's books there is a lot of Norse references in regards to Boromir's people as well as other nations of men. But at the same time he is supposed to come from one of the largest human kingdoms in the land. I would think they would be beyond furry shorts and horned helmets in that kind of society. Also the non-human characters seem more like background pieces with very little dialog or significant role. This is one thing Jackson really did well in his version.
Finally there is a downside to being completely true to a series of novels, and that is movies can never do what novels do. Sure Bakshi made changes that lent more to the visual impact of a film, but at the same time there were lots of scenes that lacked that kind of focus and seemed to be more focused on going through the motions to get to the next chapter. This is especially true in the last part of the movie where the film seems to just abruptly end with a quick narrative dialog and no real coda or conclusion that felt like the movie is over.
This Blu-Ray is a pretty good transfer, but it is not remastered. There is a good amount of dirt and blemish you can see from the source material. Still the colors are very sharp and the details are far better than any previous release. The Dolby TrueHD surround track is in my opinion flawed. Dialog looks off sometimes and the simulated surround sound is unimpressive. I wish this disc at least had the original stereo English track to make up for it. At least you get this movie in French, Spanish and German. There is one extra on the disc, and that is Forging Through The Darkness. It's an older documentary that runs about a half hour and is in standard definition. It chronicles Bakshi's career as an upstart animator and covers his entire work and not just this film.
I don't think this movie deserves the hate, but I at least understand it. All in all Bakshi's Lord of the Rings is a very worthwhile film that deserves to be noted in the annals of fantasy movies. It is far from perfect, but what it got right it got really right. I would recommend this film mostly to Tolkien fans who have read the books, or at least seen Jackson's trilogy. Those unfamiliar with the content may feel lost for no other reason than those scenes that go through the motions on the second half. This Blu-Ray is the best looking transfer that's out there, and the added documentary make it the most complete collection.
The film is very experimental, blending traditional animation with rotoscoping (animation drawn over traditional filming) and some shots that were put through a color filter or exposed differently, similar to color-tinted silent films. This color-tint process creates a high degree of contrast, leaving the figures rather dark at times so that, in their armor, they somewhat resemble the art for Prince Valiant. In terms of technique, the only modern work I could compare it to is Richard Linklater’s 2006 film, “A Scanner Darkly.” One of the bonus features is “Forging Through the Darkness,” a look at Ralph Bakshi’s life as an animator and how his work fit into the animation scene. It points out that Disney, who had traditionally dominated American feature-length animation, was then at its nadir (see the documentary, “Waking Sleeping Beauty”) while connecting Bakshi’s artistic vision to the underground comix scene of the 1960s and 1970s.
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Reviewed in Italy on January 29, 2020
長年入手できる時を待っていました。
原作とはストーリーが違いますが、このアニメーションが好きです。