Movie Reviews

LORD OF THE RINGS
- Anjan B. Joshi

Despite lovely backgrounds and Bakshi's always beautiful use of color, the film is not exactly the high point in Bakshi's career. In fact, it is still remembered and reviled by many Tolkien fans, who resent Bakshi's heavy-handed treatment of the first third of the Ring Trilogy.

Much of this resentment comes from The Lord of the Rings' unique position in fantasy literature. Unlike roughly contemporaneous works like Howard's Conan saga or Lieber's Fahfrid and the Grey Mouser, the Ring Trilogy found popularity and acceptance outside the fantasy community. Scholars respected Tolkien's poetry and deep understanding of Celtic and Norse mythos; hippies viewed the book as allegorical and containing wisdom; war gamers adopted the Tolkien world into the massively popular Dungeons and Dragons adventure games. Instead of attempting to live up to this tall order, Bakshi instead offers a film which is the equivalent of the various posters and calendars based on Tolkien's work.

Visually, the work is gorgeous in a 70s-fantasy-illustration-kind-of-way. The Ringwraiths, however, are far more unique and deadly adversaries (only nine of these evil spirits exist). Confusion then follows for the audience when the Ringwraiths are presented as unstoppable evil whereas the Orcs are quite easily killed. Bakshi assumes that you've already read the books and thus spends little time on characterization. Naturally, as in any Bakshi film, there are scattered moments of brilliance. Gandalf's imprisonment at Saruman's tower, the various battle scenes, the early sequences with the Ringwraiths, and Frodo's dance in a tavern all come to mind. The film's score, initially charming, quickly becomes repetitive, and Bakshi's decision to end the film while two-thirds of the story still remains leaves the viewer unsatisfied. (Bakshi never filmed a proposed sequel).