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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: Great
Review: Not as intricate or hard to follow as the book, but it still hits most of the important plot points, and the animation is great. It's got a wonderful musical score. I'd love to get a hold of the soundtrack if it exists???

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An Exelent Family Film
Review: Created by Rankin/Bass Productions, this is an overall good film. With exellent voice talents of John Huston, Orson Bean, and many others. The music is wonderfully Preformed by legend Glenn Yarborough. Though it is more of a kids film, it is by far superior to Baski's "Lord of the Rings" wich is extremely boring, and the animation art and voices totally suck!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Quite annoying.
Review: I am a big fan of the Lord of the Rings, and this cartoon is a real let down. Ralph Bakshi's "Lord of the Rings" is phenomenal, if you are seeking a worthy portrayal of the books.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not what you'de expect
Review: The book was for ages thirteen and up.The movie is for grade ones.Its also short and alot of the time boring.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An wonderful introduction to the world of Tolkein.
Review: The story of Bilbo Baggins unwittingly ending up in a series of adventures culminating with a Dragon and the battle of Five Armies is a shining example of the classic and magical fairy tale. The animation of this picture does justice to the J.R.R. Tolkein world of Elves, Wizards, Dwarves and Dragons, although it is aimed at Children. if one can suffer the awkward pauses (Made to accomodate television commercials) this adventure is can take an adult's imagination away.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The hobbit by Tufman is pretty good
Review: i think that the book is always better than the video, but, this video is pretty good, Tuf, Ork, you know !!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "THE GREATEST ADVENTURE..."
Review: "The Hobbit" is one of the finest animated films ever produced. It features some beautiful music, as well as some fine talent in the voicing of the characters (including John Huston as Gandalf and Orson Bean as Bilbo). Where Ralph Bakshi's "The Lord of the Rings" fails due to some lackluster animation, the scenery and characters in "The Hobbit" are beautifully rendered! Any Tolkien fan will not want to miss this!
Grade: A+

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Excellent movie; terrible audio
Review: If it weren't for some issues I had with the audio on this DVD (which I'll get to), I'd be giving "The Hobbit" at least 4.5 stars, which would round up to 5 in any event. This is a fabulous adaptation of the book. Though a few plot elements were necessarily left out, what remains is faithful to the story. The voice actors are top notch. Sometimes while reading the books, I still can't help but imagine John Huston as Gandalf, Orson Bean as Bilbo, and Brother Theodore as Gollum. I'm a big fan of the music of this movie. Some people have a problem with Glen Yarbrough. Admittedly his ballad "The Greatest Adventure" is probably the weakest song here, and it permeates the film, but every other song is taken directly from verses in the book. The gallows humor of the goblins' songs is particularly fun.

Anyway, on to the audio problems. Having watched this movie since I was a kid, I'm still able to remember it in great detail. I first noticed something was wrong at about the time Bilbo was battling the spiders in Mirkwood. Certain elements of the audio track are completely missing from this DVD version! Most of the missing audio consists of sound effects and background noises, but sometimes even dialogue falls victim. It's possible that someone unfamiliar to the movie won't even spot any problems, but to those who have seen it even a few times, the omissions are glaring. The worst instance of audio flaws comes during Bilbo's meeting with Smaug. The sense that Smaug is a huge, threatening presence is lost without all the various boomings and rumblings that normally attend him. And imagine my annoyance when the arrows of the Lakemen bounced off Smaug with narry a ping!

You'd do best to purchase "The Hobbit" on VHS. The audio track is completely intact, and you won't be missing out on any special DVD features.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: J.R.R. Tolkein started the fantasy genre with this story.
Review: Bilbo Baggins (a hobbit, a.k.a. halfling) is employed as a thief - against his better judgement - by a band of dwarves who are attempting to reclaim their once-mighty kingdom. With the help of Gandalf the wizard, and a magical invisibility ring discovered in the possession of Gollem, Bilbo is able to defeat the red dragon Smaug (with the help of the Lake Men and a magic black arrow). All would seem well, but a battle of five armies takes place as each race covets the dragon's treasure: elves vs. human vs. dwarf vs. goblin vs. eagle. In the end, each decide to share in the treasure as an alliance is formed against the goblins. Once victorious, Bilbo returns home to his halfling village of Hobbiton where he rights his memoirs, and stores his invisibility ring. This story continues with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which was partially made into an animated movie by another company, then Return of the King was animated by Rankin Bass to complete the series. The story is incredibly well told despire the somewhat goofy animation, and there are some memorable songs, something Rankin Bass has a good track record for. I highly recommend this video and its sequels, as we learn the fate of that mysterious invisibility ring...!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The pros and cons of an animated Hobbit with tunes
Review: I too remember the VHS version of this film was a bit longer, but frankly, find the new edit an improvement. Face it: Sometimes less is more. Few of the cheapie '70s Saturday morning cartoon fills remain and most of the music left is sufferable, if not pretty good. I even like Glen Yarborough's theme. (My Dad used to play one of his records from time to time, so I guess I'm just an old sentimentalist.) I can only think of three pieces which still bug me; Two goblin songs and a bit of background music, but on the whole, this film does a good, howbeit stylized, job of retelling Tolkien's classic children's story. Besides, it's the best video of The Hobbit we're likely to get soon, as word has it Tolkien himself virtually gave away the rights to it, figuring it couldn't be made into a film in the first place, and now the Rankin/Bass people refuse to let it go to Peter Jackson or anyone else, presumably until the price is right. I do love their artwork, though, and that's something which makes this an interesting, if not entirely worthwhile diversion for me.


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