Rating: 
Summary: A worthy romp through Middle Earth
Review: With the ever looming shadow of Lord of the Rings getting bigger, Warner did the right thing to capitalize on the increasing interest in Middle Earth and release The Hobbit to DVD. Tolkien fans don't have much in the way of film adaptations of the books, after all, it has generally been said that The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings were unfilmable. There were two attempts to prove that the books could in fact be filmed. 1978's Lord of the Rings was a disaster according to the fanatics, but creator Ralph Bakshi captured the spirit of evil even better than Tolkien! Even if he did hack up the books. Then there was The Hobbit. Made for TV back in 1977, this 78 minute film targeted children with its simple old-school animation and utter lack of violence. Much original material has been included from the source book, but what was left out will no doubt dissapoint the shockingly intolerant Tolkien fanatics. The fact is, this little film goes a long way to capture the spirit of Middle Earth. Credit must also be given to the voice talents of Orson Bean as Bilbo, Richard Boone as Smaug, and John Huston as Gandalf. The DVD has been given the original television aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame. This is a pretty good transfer for an obscure animation project from 1977. Indeed, there have been complaints about the audio track, but I found nothing that took away from the overall quality of this DVD. There are three short, text-based supplements on The Hobbit, including Cast and Crew, as well as facts and trivia about Tolkien himself. The DVD could be much worse considering. So in the end, The Hobbit, as well as Ralph Bakshi's underrated version, are worthy tributes to the imagination of J.R.R Tolkien.
Rating: 
Summary: DO NOT BUY THIS DVD!!!
Review: I have grown up with this story of The Hobbit, its one of my favorites. I have always had this movie in my collection and know the lines by heart. I have bought this DVD and the DVD stinks! Warner Brothers ruined this story on DVD. How? The sound was re-mastered for the DVD and there are sound effects MISSING! They used an old copy of the soundtrack that was used on a four record set that issued in 1978. If you want the complete soundtrack I recomend you buy the VHS tape. (The older the copy the better) They have also added new sound effects and lines that are NOT in the the original soundtrack! There are also problems with their DVD's of The Lord of the Rings and The Return of the King. (See my reviews for those DVDs under there listings) If Waner Brothers really cares they will re-issue These 3 DVDs after correcting their problems. ~Rob~
Rating: 
Summary: Love at first sight!!!!!
Review: I have loved this movie since i was little! I don't really remember much of it, but I do remember that I loved it dearly and still do. When I heard of the new movie "Lord of the Rings" coming out this year, it brought back all old memories and I knew I had to find "The Hobbit" and get a copy for myself.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent adaptation and a must-have for your video library!
Review: I'm a huge Tolkien fan, and this movie definitely helped introduce many, many people to the fantastic universe of his stories. Amazingly, it did also try its best to follow the storyline pretty well. The voices are VERY well done, and the dialogue also is great. It really gets across the *feelings* that were in the book, which are often hard to convey in a movie format. I highly recommend this to anyone who loves the Tolkien stories, and if you haven't read them yet, this might be the perfect introduction!
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not a substitute for imagination, nor Tolkien art
Review: This cartoon is really pretty good. I don't suggest watching this before reading the book. Still, there are many bright spots: Bilbo, the dwarves, Elrond, and the trolls look just as I thought they would, and so do the wood elves. Gandalf is well depicted, and John Huston was a perfect chioce as the voice of the wandering wizard. The orcs and Gollum don't look quite as I imagined them, but they are still well drawn and their looks suit them. The only creature that disappointed me was Smaug. He doesn't look like what I expect a dragon to look like. Appearence aside, his voice is perfect (deep, smug, and nasty)! Beorn is left out, unfortunatly. Not bad, a good DVD to get your kids interested in the tales of Tolkien. It's done in an anime style, and it looks good. The content is certainly much better than most of the hideously stupid dubbed japanime shows that kids watch.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the Book
Review: As a Tolkien fan, I found the movie very lacking.
It didn't follow the story very well and left out several key parts.
Other than that, it is a good movie to show 1st graders that have not read the book.
Rating:
Summary: Didgitally inhanced, but missing a few things.
Review: When I first rediscoverd this gem I had rented the (1996) Warner Brothers rerelease of it and the Republic Pictures release of Lord of the rings. As for the Hobbit(2001)Warner Bro. release, the inhancement of the video eliments is great, but the audio even thought enhanced for sterio is missing some eliments, like when the trush cherps as Bilbo is sneeking in the Smaug's lair there is no sound, and when Smaug roars one of the times there is no sound as well, and like in most shows when they have reformated the sound the backgound sounds over take the diologue. All and all I was glad I saw the older version before I bought this one. Even though the colors were duller and the sound mono it added to the atmossphire and was more enjoyable to watch then this noisy, brightly colored example of how modern technology can't do the original justice. They need to restore some things to there original glory and not over do it, but remember to pull all the sounds back into the movie as well.
Rating: 
Summary: A BURRAHOBBIT!?!
Review: a good movie and and exellent start for the lord of the rings. this work handels tolkien's classic tale well even if it uses only bits of the novel. a good begining for those who will go on to see the animated LORD OF THE RINGS and THE RETURN OF THE KING. huston is exellant as gandalf, and bilbo is good as well. the movie starts out well taking us into another realm with huston's execllent narriton. i liked the orcs as well as the great goblin. we see old gollum in his dank cave (good old gollum. yess my presciousss). the movie cuts out the beoran incednet unfortuly and shifts on to the forest of mirkwood. the movie never mentions gandalf's dual with the necromencer(who is really saruon), which in itelf was only breifly mentioned in the book. the dreaded spiders are good and so is the lake town. i enjoyed the sceens with smaug. the end battel is good but one cant tell whats really going on. since this is a kiddie version there is no blood (while bakshis exellent LORD OF THE RINGS is bloody at times). the death scean of thorin is good and true to the book. one cant but feel sorry for the poor dwarf. "if everyone cherished food and cheer above hoarded gold,(as bilbo does) it would be a marryer world. but sad or marry i must leave it now." snif. good old thorin. this is a good movie and its hard to read the hobbit without thinking of it. a good movie for tolkien fans.
Rating:
Summary: Unlike the book, "The Hobbit" has its problems...
Review: Of the millions upon millions of Tolkien fans out there in the world, you can divide the groups that have seen this film version of "The Hobbit" into two categories - those who love it, and those who hate it. To love it, you must be among Tolkien's more open-minded fans. To hate it, you have to be a perfectionist when it comes to all thinks Tolkien. Oddly enough, I could almost fit into both categories where this is concerned. Visually, this animated feature delivers the lighter side of Middle-earth in ways that Bakshi cannot manage. However, the voice-overs leave much to be desired, in my opinion - espesially in comparison to Bakshi's adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings." One thing that bothers me is that, Elrond aside, there are NO British actors. This seems very out of place to me, personally - and don't think it has anything to do with me being British, because I'm pureblood American. Of all the characters in the film I find that only Gollum and Smaug are voiced to my own satisfaction. Point of fact, the sequence between Smaug and Bilbo is absolutely everything that it should be, and the highlight of the movie. Yes, there are moments in this film where the characters break out into song - but it belongs here, and the songs are actually quite catchy versions of those that appear in writing in "The Hobbit." The orcs, in particular, have deep, rumbling voices and even when singing they manage to maintain their fearsome demeanor. The moments of song actually enhance this film rather than detract from it - which is, sadly, not the case in "The Return of the King" (also given us by Rankin-Bass). There are other problems, though. There is no Beorn; the film's depiction of Elves make one wonder just how well the animators STUDIED Tolkien's characters - they look awful; and the film takes the strange liberty of killing off more Dwarves than the book did. But overall, it is a nice attempt, and perhaps as close as we'll ever come to seeing "The Hobbit" on screen (unless New Line decides to milk their cash cow even further - crossing fingers).
Rating:
Summary: One of my childhood favorites!
Review: I love this movie. Sure the music is silly and it isn't too much like the book, but if you are a little kid and are too young to actually read "The Hobbit" then this is a good movie. I remember watching this movie when I was little and it eventually led me to read "The hobbit" and the "Lord of the Rings" Trilogy. So my advice, is to watch the movie first... then read the book, that way you won't be disappointed with the movie, but pleased with the book. It is actually best if you try to keep the two separate in your mind. I love this movie...
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