Made for television, The Return of the King is the animated Rankin/Bass sequel to The Hobbit. Although the majority of the story comes from the final book of the same name in J.R.R. Tolkien's classics trilogy The Lord of the Rings, very abbreviated versions of the first two books are included so that viewers get the general gist of the story. John Huston reprises his voice role as the wizard Gandalf, who serves as narrator to the proceedings. And the action is conveniently narrowed to two major storylines: the hobbits Frodo and Sam's journey to Mount Doom, the evil Sauron's stronghold, where they intend to destroy the Ring of Power, thereby liberating Middle Earth, and the story of Gandalf and his legions of elves, men, and hobbits fighting the bands of orcs and other minions of Sauron. Of course, a 96-minute film can't begin to do justice to the scope of Tolkien's richly detailed fantasy opus, but the movie is certainly enjoyable to watch, and might well tempt some viewers to read the original. A darker, and better animated, version is Ralph Bakshi's 1978 Lord of the Rings. But the Bakshi film is much more violent (which is more in keeping with Tolkien's tale) and tries to fit too much of the story in to make for a satisfying focused film. The Return of the King is recommended. (R. Pitman)
The Return of the King
(1980) 96 min. $24.95. Solar Home Video. Library Journal
The Return of the King
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