| View Larger Image | J.R.R. Tolkien Animated Films Set (The Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings/The Return of the King) | DVDStarring: Christopher Guard, William Squire, Orson Bean, John Huston, Brother Theodore
Directed By: Arthur Rankin Jr., Jules Bass, Ralph Bakshi
Also With: Arthur Rankin Jr. (Producer), Chris Conkling (Writer), J.R.R. Tolkien (Writer), Peter S. Beagle (Writer), Romeo Muller (Writer)
| List Price: | $38.92 | | Price: | $24.99 | | You Save: | $13.93 (36%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 3 to 5 weeks |
| | Binding: | DVD | | Rating: |  | | Run Time: | 308 minutes | | Format: | Anamorphic, Animated, Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC | | Studio: | Warner Home Video | | Number of Discs: | 3 | | Aspect Ratio: | 1.85:1 | | Release Date: | December 11, 2001 | | Sales Rank: | 8,193th |
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FEATURES | - Animated versions of three Tolkienics: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Return of the King. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN Rating: NR Age: 085392633128 UPC: 085392633128 Manufacturer No: 26331
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Description
Animated versions of three Tolkien classics: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Return of the King. |
Amazon.com
The Hobbit The J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy classic set in Middle-earth was adapted into this excellent 1978 animated feature first broadcast on television. Codirectors Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr., working from a script by Romeo Muller, are faithful to Tolkien's story and for that alone they get big points. The vocal cast can't be improved upon: Orson Bean is perfect as Bilbo Baggins, the timorous hobbit who grows brave on his adventure with the wizard Gandalf (John Huston). Otto Preminger is the voice of Elvenking, Richard Boone is Smaug, Hans Conried is Thorin, and Brother Theodore is very effective as the weird Gollum. Terrific for kids and adults alike. --Tom Keogh The Lord of the Rings Although it was ultimately overshadowed by Peter Jackson's live-action Lord of the Rings trilogy, Ralph Bakshi's animated adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy classic is not without charms of its own. A target of derision from intolerant fans, this ambitious 1978 production is nevertheless a respectably loyal attempt to animate the first half of Tolkien's trilogy, beginning with the hobbit Frodo's inheritance of the One Ring of power from Bilbo Baggins, and ending with the wizard Gandalf's triumph over the evil army of Orcs. While the dialogue is literate and superbly voiced by a prestigious cast (including John Hurt as Aragorn), Leonard Roseman's accomplished score effectively matches the ominous atmosphere that Bakshi's animation creates and sustains. Bakshi's lamentable decision to combine traditional cel animation with "rotoscoped" (i.e., meticulously traced) live-action footage is jarringly distracting and aesthetically disastrous, but when judged by its narrative content, this Lord of the Rings deserves more credit than it typically receives. --Jeff Shannon The Return of the King The creative team behind 1978's impressive animation feature based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit returns with this 1980 entry drawn from Tolkien's famous Lord of the Rings trilogy. It's good work all around, and not at all the kind of feature-length cartoon that reduces good books to treacle. Orson Bean returns as the voice of Bilbo Baggins as well as that of the trilogy's hero, Frodo. John Huston is commanding again as the voice of the wizard Gandalf, and also in the vocal cast are William Conrad, Paul Frees, and Roddy McDowall. --Tom Keogh |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 3.5 based on 83 reviews)
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O good companion for the motio picture!!! by Claudio B. Costa (Rio de Janeiro, Brasil)  5 Stars
November 03, 2009
This set contains 3 animated stories from Middle-Earth. The Hobbit, maa be considered as an introduction for the main story, The Lord of the Rings. This animated episode is very accurate, and depicts the book in a very interesting way. The second, The Lord of the Rings, is another animated version with good finishing and accurate plot. The weak point is that it finishes with the assault on Helm's Deep. The second part was never published. The third DVD, The Return of the King, tells the story in a very unusual way. All te involved characters, are shown over a table telling the stories and adventures they took part in the last part of the saga. Funny, but not to be considered as part of the story. The curious fact, is that The Hobbit and The Return of the King, are directed by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass, but do not connect to each other. The Lord of the Rings, is directed by Ralph Bakshi and, apparently, was not intended to make a connection with the other two pictures, but with a little "good will", watching them in sequence, tells the story of the Rings in a very interesting way.
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Okay by Crystal  3 Stars
September 15, 2009
The only reason I gave this group of DVDs a 3 star was I did not like the The Lord of the Rings dvd. The other two dvds in this group, The Hobbit and The Return of the King, are great! My 4 year old absolutely loves them! We won't let him watch The Lord of the Rings though. It is way to scary for a 4 year old!
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Very Good for Tolkien fans. by Justin B. Wallace  4 Stars
July 20, 2009
Each of these movies has strengths and weaknesses. Certainly compared to what Peter Jackson has done with Tolkien, they are chalk and cheese. They are however interesting enough on their own to entertain you. Of course they have each made a ton of cuts from the books and to a certain extent have dumbed down Tolkien/made it more child oriented.
The strengths of course are endearing characters/plot lines; but that is of course a strength of Tolkien and it is virtually impossible to make movies of his stories without carrying on at least some of those strengths.
One of the things as a Tolkien fan, I found most interesting was viewing the construction of the adaptation as the movies progress; what the writers/directors considered necessary to concentrate on/emphasise (or even in some cases include all new scenes/concepts; like Peter Jackson did with his fabulous LOTR live action film trilogy/adaptation) and what they felt they had to either ignore or downplay.
Whilst I didn't agree as a fan, with a lot of decisions they made; I can certainly understand that in trying to appeal to children and with budgetary restrictions, why they had to make many of the storytelling decisions they did.
But rather than list the specific changes they made and my reaction to each; I'd rather recommend the product to fans and suggest that they buy/view them and decide for themselves what they liked/didn't like. However just as one example (without really giving away any spoilers); I didn't particularly like the change/new role of the minstrel in the Hobbit; but I loved what the same people did with this same character concept in The Return of the King.
For non-fans; I would (by far) recommend Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy as the filmic way to first experience Tolkien. But for young children; those who are Tolkien fans; and those adults/teenagers who are already familiar with Peter Jackson's films and are interested in seeing an animated adaptation, I certainly recommend these. They are certainly well enough made to be enjoyable; even if they don't in a general way do Tolkien justice; as Peter Jackson did.
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Incredible material! I recommend to all fans! by Vinicius R. Caramuru (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) 5 Stars
June 09, 2009
Dvd-quality, perfect editing, failing only on packages that could be of better quality. Another fact to note is the policy of sending certain products by ebay for Brazil, which does not follow a logical concise, what it takes to lose big consumers to other sites that are sending without major problems, as [...] for dvds and [...] for books!
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Just a stroll down memory lane... by M. Miller (San Antonio, Texas USA) 5 Stars
June 03, 2009
I was covering "The Hobbit" with my freshmen students and needed the movie to accompany the lesson. When we were done with the novel, I rewarded them with the other two movies. Despite the fact that they have all seen the Peter Jackson versions of the series, they still got into the movies. It was a nice reward for them at the end of the year.
It just brings back nostalgia for me and my childhood. I remember watching all of these on tv before we had a VCR or cable. Oh the days of sitting around the one tv set in the house as a family and watching the same thing as my parents and other sibllings...and not complaining since that was all that was on that was worth watching.
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