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.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jul 17, 2025

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 16, 2023

Sheer tedium from start to finish.

Full Review | Original Score: D | Dec 1, 2022

If it achieves nother more than causing those unfamiliar with the worlds of Tolkien to actually read the original books then it has not been a pointless exercise.

Full Review | Jul 22, 2022

Ralph Bakshi achieves spectacular effects. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Aug 12, 2019

A film that, despite its palpable narrative shortages, is not only fascinating regarding its visual commitment, but also because it laid a strong base for the material shot by Jackson a quarter of a century later. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Jul 31, 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.

Full Review | Mar 26, 2019

[W]e should be grateful that Bakshi has tried so hard to be faithful to the original that its spirit and inspiration often shine through to stir the blood.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 26, 2019

A genuine cult movie

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Mar 26, 2019

Bakshi proves once again that he is a master of his chosen medium.

Full Review | Mar 26, 2019

Lord of the Rings never makes that wondrous leap to the land of the imagination.

Full Review | Mar 26, 2019

Ralph Bakshi's imagination was on the Fritz; his animated version of Tolkien's fable made Middle-earth look like Grand Central Station during the rush hour of the Ores.

Full Review | Mar 26, 2019

It seems less concerned with Tolkien than the West Coast drug culture of the mid-1970s and as a herald of New Ageism.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 26, 2019

Full of epic effects and breathtaking battles the film reflects Bakshi's ingenuity, with photographic imagery and light show effects expanding the limits of the palette used in previous animation features.

Full Review | Mar 26, 2019

It's a divisive film but I appreciate some of the choices that it made.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Feb 12, 2019

Even the most magical fantasy falls to earth if it's not clear who's who and what's happening, as every maker of fables should know.

Full Review | Jun 24, 2015

Tolkien fans, who are familiar with novels, will find it enjoyble, while others may be confused by the action.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Dec 3, 2012

Innovative and beautiful, cheesy and disjointed.

Full Review | Dec 3, 2012

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | 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.

Full Review | Dec 3, 2012