The Return of the King

I would certainly have preferred an adaptation of “The Return of the King” by Ralph Bakshi to one by Rankin/Bass. This animated film is more of a sequel to “The Hobbit” from 1977 than to “The Lord of the Rings” from 1978. And within a few minutes the bad singing got on my nerves again. Perhaps this might be appropriate for a story aimed at a young audience like “The Hobbit,” but not for the finale of an epic saga. Ultimately, it's simply not a good adaptation of the material, with the animation style once again not appealing to me. And without any background knowledge, you would probably be completely lost as to what is actually happening. The pacing is also catastrophically bad again—I mean, for what feels like half the movie, you follow Sam as he is talking to himself. For me, this is clearly the weakest Middle-earth movie so far.

Rankin/Bass return to the works of Tolkien once more for the concluding chapter of The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King. The story picks up with Frodo, Gandalf, and Elrond celebrating Bilbo’s 129th birthday, and recounting how Frodo and Sam went on a quest to Mount Doom to destroy the magic ring Bilbo found. Some impressive actors lend their talents to the film, including John Huston, Roddy McDowall, and Casey Kasem, and they deliver strong performances. The musical numbers however, are a little lackluster and aren’t quite up to the Rankin/Bass standard. Still, the animation style is pretty good and is full of interesting character and set designs. While it may be a little too kidified for die hard Tolkien fans, The Return of the King is an entertaining fantasy adventure.