For a long time, fans of JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings had very few places to turn if they wanted to see a filmed version of his magnum opus. One of those was Ralph Bakshi’s The Lord of the Rings, which was an adaptation of most of the first two books. Unfortunately, a sequel went unproduced, and it wasn’t until Peter Jackson released his trilogy of films that Tolkien’s work finally received the screen version that it deserved.
Even now, there are quite a few reasons that Bakshi’s work is underrated, as well as a few aspects of it that aren’t really that great.
10 Underrated: The Adherence To Tolkien’s Work
One of the most noteworthy things about the Bakshi film is how faithful it manages to be to the original novel. Though there are some liberties taken - such as the exclusion of the character of Tom Bombadil - for the most part it hits all of the major notes, often in a fashion very similar to that with which Tolkien himself described it. For Tolkien fans, there is something uniquely pleasurable about seeing a film take his words seriously and make an earnest effort to translate this beloved novel to screen.
9 Not: Unfinished
It’s truly a tragedy that Bakshi’s film was never followed by a sequel. Unfortunately, this means that, no matter how underrated the film in many ways is, it’s always rather frustrating to watch it, since one always knows that there will never be a follow-up that will bring the story to a satisfying conclusion. It’s a potent reminder of how capricious moviemaking can be and how often even good films aren’t given the opportunities to succeed that they deserve.
8 Underrated: The Moments Of Genuine Terror
Anyone who has read Tolkien’s novel knows that, while there are moments of true beauty and joy, there are also some truly terrifying moments as well. No one who has encountered the Ringwraiths during the course of their reading is likely to forget how frightening they are, particularly once they take to the air on their horrid fellbeasts. Bakshi’s film manages to capture these unsettling moments (sometimes better than Jackson’s films do), and for this reason it still deserves the respect and appreciation of fans of Tolkien’s work.
7 Not: How Ridiculous Some Of The Hobbits Are
It’s probably not entirely surprising that Bakshi, a director known for his rather earthy sense of humor at times, would tend to indulge in the more ridiculous aspect of some of the hobbits’ characters. In this film, that’s particularly noticeable in the way in which it chooses to depict both Bilbo and Sam.
Readers know that these two hobbits are incredibly noble (though, admittedly, sometimes prone to be a bit ridiculous), but most of that is scoured away in Bakshi’s interpretation, and the film is, unfortunately, the weaker for it.
6 Underrated: The Beautiful Animated Sequences
There seems to be a natural connection between animation and fantasy. Perhaps it’s because the two are both, to some degree, invested in creating a utopian vision of the world. It makes sense, then, that one of the major adaptations of Tolkien’s fantasy work should be an animated film, and there are truly some extraordinary sequences here. Gandalf, for example, looks exactly as the reader would expect. Where the film truly excels, however, is in its capturing of the world of Middle-earth, and the animation excels at showing just how beautiful Tolkien’s created world is.
5 Not: The Rotoscoping
While most of the film is traditionally animated, there are some notable sequences that make use of the technique known as rotoscoping, in which action that is filmed live is covered over with animated cels. The effect is striking, to be sure, but there are several occasions in this film where it verges into the almost ridiculous, precisely because it’s so different from the majority of the film. More important, perhaps, is the fact that the technology also looks very dated.
4 Underrated: John Hurt As Aragorn
Before his death, John Hurt was one of those people whose face and voice had featured in a number of fantasy and science fiction franchises. Here, he plays the voice of Aragorn, the man who is the long-lost heir to the throne of Gondor. While his appearance is significantly different than in Jackson’s film, there’s no question that Hurt still manages to capture the essential nobility that is such a key part of Aragorn’s character, and there are times when it’s simply a pleasure just to listen to him speak.
3 Not: The Balrog
As compelling as much of the visual design is, some of it falls rather flat. The most glaring example of this problem is the Balrog. While this is the most intimidating and fearsome being that the Fellowship faces on the first part of their journey, in this film it ends up looking more than a little ridiculous.
It’s unfortunate that it looks so stilted, because the confrontation between this being and Gandalf is one of the high points of the novel, and one can’t help but wish that the animators had chosen a different design.
2 Underrated: The Screenplay Was Written By Peter S. Beagle
One of the things that often goes underappreciated about this film is the fact that its screenplay was written by Peter S. Beagle. For those who don’t know, Beagle is a well-respected author of fantasy in his own right (his most famous work is probably The Last Unicorn). It’s probably not going too far to suggest that it is precisely Beagle’s sensibilities as an author of fantasy that allowed him to create a screenplay that managed to stay faithful to Tolkien’s vision while making allowances for the necessities of film narrative.
1 Not: Boromir’s Horned Helmet
Boromir is, in many ways, one of the most tragic characters in the entire novel. Alone of the Fellowship, he falls under the lure of the Ring and almost betrays Frodo. While his arc follows this basic design in Bakshi’s film, it’s very hard to take a character seriously when he’s wearing a horned helmet. It’s hard to see what, exactly, the animators were going for here, since nowhere does it say that the Gondorians were like the Vikings, and so the character design ultimately undercuts the essential nobility of this character.
from ScreenRant - Feed https://ift.tt/3httN0g
0 Comments