The Lord of the Rings

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The Lord of the Rings

PG

1978

2h 11m

Fantasy

Adventure

Animation

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Popcornmeter

48%

Tomatometer

46 Reviews

64%

Popcornmeter

250,000+ Ratings

This animated film by Ralph Bakshi presents the first part of J.R.R. Tolkien's renowned fantasy tale. The wise old wizard, Gandalf, entrusts the young hobbit, Frodo, with a magical ring. Soon dark forces are after Frodo, so he must leave his peaceful home and travel to the ominous Mount Doom, where the ring must be destroyed. Accompanied by a trio of hobbit friends, Frodo is also aided by the mysterious Aragorn and other heroic allies.

Critics Consensus

Ralph Bakshi's valiant attempt at rendering Tolkein's magnum opus in rotoscope never lives up to the grandeur of its source material, with a compressed running time that flattens the sweeping story and experimental animation that is more bizarre than magical.

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Paul Gray

TIME Magazine

Mar 26, 2019

Lacking a firm center in Frodo's story, the film plays itself out as a bewildering parade of elves, dwarves, ores, trolls and talking trees.

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William Thomas

Empire Magazine

Dec 3, 2012

4/5

What most people remember is the mix of the live-action tracing within the traditional animation and just how effectively creepy it managed to be, but for the time this did a pretty good job of adapting the dense novels.

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Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Dec 3, 2012

It looked terrible then and it still does: cartoon characters move differently from live actors, and the attempt to duplicate natural movement ends in stylistic incoherence.

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Jeff Beck

The Blu Spot

Jul 17, 2025

2.5/5

While it is quite interesting to see an early attempt to bring this beloved classic to the screen, it simply has too many issues holding it back, primarily with its sloppy rotoscoping and the unbalanced nature of its adaptation.

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John Lapsley

The Sun-Herald (Australia)

Nov 16, 2023

2/5

Bakshi's 2.5 hour animation epic has been drowned by its inability to breathe any real identity into the Hobbits, Orcs, Wizards, and Elves, that Tolkien created. The result is an ordeal for the backside.

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Rob Gonsalves

Rob's Movie Vault

Dec 1, 2022

D

Sheer tedium from start to finish.

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Huntin P

@PaxVobiscum80 Sep 15, 2026

Hollywood executives took their revenge on autocratic Orson Welles and botched his follow-up to Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). I don't know what Ralph Bakshi did to aggravate the suits, but after making Part 1 of his Lord of the Rings diptych, the studio took the project away from him and someone else made an utterly worthless follow-up, in a completely different style, patronising and cutesy-poo. Hollywood lore is full of such follies, alas. As it is, Bakshi's adaptation of the novel is in fact a live action movie, converted into animation through the use of rotoscoping. It was filmed on location in Spain and on the lot in Hollywood. One or two infelicities aside, the movie takes its cue from the written text and is remarkably faithful to Tolkien - more so, in fact, than Peter Jackson's overhyped 'trilogy'. The difference is between Tolkien and the merely Tolkienesque, the seminal and the merely generic. Bakshi's cast is first rate, doing full justice to the dialogue.

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stephenpaul C

@ash20261234567890 Sep 13, 2026

The worldwide gross is $30,471,420.00.

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Jamie S

@RT62465935 Sep 11, 2026

Do not watch this through the lens of the films. This is an early animated version appreciate this piece of art in its own right. The animation is one of the highlights, truly a lost art. A great rainy Sunday afternoon film. Cosy up and watch.

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Paul Z

@Soprano1927 Aug 19, 2026

I got this for free, and honestly, for me, the main problem is the character designs, Sam is fat, treebead looks like a beetroot, and the orcs are wearing some turban things. However,the animation itself is pretty good, as well as the retroscooping. In conclusion, it’s good for a free movie but I wouldn’t pay for it.

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Alexios B

@Alexios-Barnabas Jul 7, 2026

I love this film adaptation, and not just because it was my first introduction to Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings. Yes, it seems a bit quirky by today's standards, but it's a loving adaptation that stays quite faithful to the book.

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Alex T

@Alex26465 Jun 19, 2026

ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE

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Ralph Bakshi

Director

Christopher Guard

Frodo

William Squire

Gandalf

Michael Scholes

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Synopsis

This animated film by Ralph Bakshi presents the first part of J.R.R. Tolkien's renowned fantasy tale. The wise old wizard, Gandalf, entrusts the young hobbit, Frodo, with a magical ring. Soon dark forces are after Frodo, so he must leave his peaceful home and travel to the ominous Mount Doom, where the ring must be destroyed. Accompanied by a trio of hobbit friends, Frodo is also aided by the mysterious Aragorn and other heroic allies.

Director: Ralph Bakshi
Screenwriter: Chris Conkling, Peter S. Beagle
Rating: PG
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Animation
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 1, 2014
Runtime: 2h 11m
Sound Mix: Surround

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