I recently had the opportunity to watch this movie again on cable, a film last seen as a young teenager. I enjoyed the movie as a child, but maturity and an appreciation for film has changed my perspective.
Bakshi's LoTR is disjointed at best. The scale of the books is daunting though and I do give this film credit for trying. Peter Jackson was certainly helped in his endeavor by Bakski's attempt, he could see first hand what worked and what failed miserably. Some of the grandest scenes in the books, like Gandalf's confrontation with the Balrog, are rendered so poorly by the animators that I can't help but laugh.
Many Tolkien fans have read the books over and over again, it exists as a film in their own heads. My only explanation for a mature Tolkien fan endorsing this film now is that all the gaps and missteps in the movie are being filled in with their own impressions from the book. Banal lines clumsily delivered are only resonating in a viewer because they are straight from the books and trigger a happy recollection.
The only saving grace of this film for me are the books and nostalgia, take those away and it falls apart.
Bakshi's LoTR is disjointed at best. The scale of the books is daunting though and I do give this film credit for trying. Peter Jackson was certainly helped in his endeavor by Bakski's attempt, he could see first hand what worked and what failed miserably. Some of the grandest scenes in the books, like Gandalf's confrontation with the Balrog, are rendered so poorly by the animators that I can't help but laugh.
Many Tolkien fans have read the books over and over again, it exists as a film in their own heads. My only explanation for a mature Tolkien fan endorsing this film now is that all the gaps and missteps in the movie are being filled in with their own impressions from the book. Banal lines clumsily delivered are only resonating in a viewer because they are straight from the books and trigger a happy recollection.
The only saving grace of this film for me are the books and nostalgia, take those away and it falls apart.