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The Hobbit

The Hobbit

List Price: $12.98
Your Price: $7.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Tremendous Work
Review: This video is definitely not just for kids! The animation is incredibly well done for the decade in which the film was made. Middle-Earth looks so much like I had imagined it when reading the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The voice acting is superb, and the music is very fitting. They may have taken some liberty with the story, but for the most part the movie is very accurate to the book. Two of the most vivid scenes from the book, Biblo's confrontations with Gollum and Smaug, are elaborated upon in the film. The film also deeply plays upon the angle of the story about Bilbo's simple life as a Hobbit, and displays the messages Tolkien wished his readers to understand, in depth.

This is probably the most accurate to-the-book film based upon The Hobbit. I recommend it to all Tolkien fans. This film will take you to Middle-Earth, There and Back Again.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Love those eyebrows
Review: Okay, so if you can get past Glenn Yarborough's quivery voice, the Orc songs are generally quite amusing. I love the backgrounds; they are as epic as any scenery in any other animation I have ever seen. The hobbits are well done, Rankin Bass has the best American animation when it comes to detail, and after watching this I can't picture a more perfect Gandalf.

I don't know that I'd let kids watch this; Tolkein does scary stuff, and the Rankin Bass interpretations stop short of showing people getting hit or skewered, but the monsters are no less scary.

Also: Check out Return of the King by these guys; it's even better.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A review- post viewing of the Hobbit
Review: Overall, it was great. I, being a hardcore Tolkien fan, judged the movie with an extremely critical eye. The songs were well done. And the animation was o.k. It really only has one plot conflict,that being that they totally left out Beorn. Oh, yeah , the elves could have been portrayed better. They look like blue ants that got tangled up in the machinery of a textile mill. Gollum was wonderful.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A review- post viewing of the Hobbit
Review: Over all it was great. I being a hardcore Tolkien fan, judged the movie with an extremly critical eye. The songs were well done. And the animation was o.k. It really only has one plot conflict,that being that they totaly left out beoren. Ohh, yeah , the elves could have been portraid better. They look like blue ants that got tangeled up in the machinary of textile. Gollum was wonderful.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Poor
Review: While the storyline was quite accurate, the animation is dreadful and the songs bad. The whole effort feels dated and really doesn't do the book justice. I don't think there is any excuse for poor animation. If you don't have the budget, don't make the film.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the coolest animated films ever!
Review: The Hobbit almost compares with Rankin/Bass Return of the King and Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit is a wonderful story, and you will not be disapointed with this animation! The only bad things about it are it's music: very seventies, american pop-style, like off Scooby Doo. Also, some of the voices of characters like Gandalf are american! It's an english book! Rankin/Bass could have done better, but over-all, a nice and wonderful film that will keep you entertained for hours! I recommend that you buy:-

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good because of its feel, botched because of what it cut
Review: This video is a good adaptiation of J. R. R. Tolkien's classic children's novel. There are many positive things to it. Yet there are also some negative aspects to it, because, after all, it is a human production.

The positive is it introduces the story to an audience that might not pick up a book, or people who have never heard of Tolkien (imagine that!). I can honestly say this movie is responsible for getting me into Tolkien. We had Disney, and I watched this and the sequel (Return of the King), although I remembered this the most. When I saw the book at a flea market back when I was 12 or 13, I bought it (I am now 20). Had it not been for this movie, I might have passed that book bye. Therefore, I'm heavily indebted to this movie, because it is responsible for my discovery of Tolkien. The animation, espically that of The Shire, is true to the stories. The depiction of Gollum is espically good, and that whole sequence is very well down. The animators and cast really capture the spirit of what Tolkien was trying to do. Gandalf is always a a delight. The dragon is magnificent (although they erroneously pronounce "Smaug" like the pollution "smog"). Much of the animation seems like pictures straight from Tolkien's sketch book.

The negative, although it is not surprising, tho' still disappointing, is they cut things out. The entire sequence with Beorn is cut out. It would have been very interesting to see him in this version. The elves do not have that 'high elvish beauty' that so permeates THE LORD OF THE RINGS, and, to a lesser extent, THE HOBBIT. They are quite attrocious to look at. Strangely, they fit in well with the scenery and the animation style, but to the story it contradicts it. Some things are rushed over, most notable the episode with the Trolls. In the book, they have a fight o how to cook the dwarves, with Gandalf off scene, actually causing the fight. Here, they comment on how they like them, but there is no fight, and (unconvincingly) dawn overtakes them. On the mountain, although there is the thrush, there is no great ravens (Roac son of Carc). The entire political matter of the Arkenstone is left out. And for some strange reason, they change the number of how many live from 10 to 6. The reason why I could never understand. One scene I never understood was Bilbo, awakening to find the goblins upon them, but before dreaming, says "dwarves have a strange notion of perfection". It is only a 76 minute film, so they did cut things. It is sad they could not include more.

As you can tell, its chief weaknesses are the things it cut out. The movie is true to the book. Bilbo's physical appearance is now how I always visualize it, and Gollum is superb. He is blackened skinned in this, and green in THE RETURN OF THE KING. The animation is its strongest, and with exception to the Elves is true to Tolkien, the weakest is the things they were forced to cut. Overall, a good film. This place will always have special significance to me, because this is what got me into Tolkien. He, as MacDonald to Lewis, is my master.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I love this movie
Review: This was one of the first video tapes that i actually bought myself. I grew up watching the video. Everytime it came on tv my entire family would sit down and watch it. I love the songs, and John Huston as Gandalf's voice is great.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: This wasn't such a bad film
Review: Sure, the songs were strange and everything and it skipped a couple good points of the original storyline of the book (and made the elves look...well.....), but this was a pretty OK adaption of the book. For it's time, the animation was pretty good, but strange at times. For children, it's a good way to start them before they read the actual novel. I didn't like the way the goblins looked though. My vision of them was much different. For anyone who has already read the book, then this is a good look-back at the major events of the story. For Tolkien fans or if you're simply looking for a movie to see, this is pretty good.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A great introduction for kids
Review: I first saw this movie when I was 6 or 7, and I've always loved it. It was my introduction to fantasy, and led to my great interest in the genre. If you compare this movie to the book, it's almost a joke, I guess, but I do think that Gollum, Gandalf, and Smaug were very well done. It portrays the *essence* of the book to children very well(the songs are fantastic!). I think the last scene with Thorin and Bilbo was also well done, and very true to the book. So no matter what its flaws as an adaptation, I'll always have a special place in my heart for this film. Very worthwhile as a child's introduction into a fantastic and worthwhile genre.


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