The Hobbit

The Hobbit (1966) is an animated short film and the first adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's novels and no one talks about it. I'm just gonna cut to the chase by saying that this is the worst short film I've ever seen in my life.

Positives for The Hobbit (1966): The animation looks okay enough here. That's it for the positives.

Negatives for The Hobbit (1966): I have one question to the director of this short film, in what world does this qualify as being an adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's novels. There is nothing here to convince you that this is a part of the Lord of the Rings.

Overall, The Lord of the Rings (1966) is the worst short film I've seen in my life and it is the worst on-screen adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's novels.

William L. Snyder purchased the film rights to the fantasy novel 'The Hobbit', but in order to retain the film rights, had a limited window of time to produce a film based on the book. Together with director Gene Deitch, along with a small Czech production team, he produced this perfunctory... thing.

I am fairly sure he did not intend this to be his best work. A narrated moving storybook rather than a proper animation, the storyline is extremely abbreviated & moves quickly, even for children's attention spans. About the best qualities of this film was how scary the artists made Slag & Gollum.

I think this almost would have been better if it had been literally presented as a storybook filmed from over the narrator's shoulder as he turned the pages.

This is the first cinematic adaptation of The Hobbit. Okay, put "cinematic" in quotes, because the actual film consists of nothing but static illustrations with voice over narration. Granted, the illustrations are charming in their own way, but still.

As an adaptation of the book, this is pitiful. Most of the dwarfs whom Bilbo accompanies are replaced by a princess character with whom the hobbit falls in love. Everything is condensed into eleven brief minutes, certainly not enough time to flesh the story out.

And yet, I would not say this is a total waste. It has the charm of a children's night time story and is not nearly as laborious to sit through as the recent Hobbit films, which suffer from an overabundance of run time altogether. This short movie is worthwhile for Tolkein fans and the curious, but not so much for anyone else.

It is a miracle this short works at all considering the budget and time spent on it. The creator did his best with what he had if you ask me.

I say, expand it to 30 minutes, filling the gaps in the story, and you'll end up something that's not infamous for what it is, but can show its potential for values.

C'mon, it even has a theme with the black heart/diamond heart thingy.

Though beats me why the Spider from LotR is here with the character of Gollam, and how does Bilbo marry a dwarf princess... But if that it is, then that it is!

Overall this is fun watch and the first movie of this childrens book. We reached a moment where fans like myself of the franchise are so protective. So I can go in about the lore, but IMO that completely defeats the purpose of this little adaption made for the youngest ones. The right were with someone who was reaching the end of his time with the right: So created a mini story of the Hobbit to make a movie later.

Having done that intro: The animation is very cool and well done, it gives a dark fairytale feeling and that feels correct. The voice over is is fitting and pleasant. And a new main character is introduced (which probably people with have feelings about) haha.

It's short and some scenes are recognizable at the base, but there a lot of liberties taken, so expects some twists and turns. Personally I just laughed about it.

It could have been a bit longer, BUT this was created more then 50 years ago with a different purpose in mind.

For me an 8 (it really looks great and it entertains), but let me add that I have full understanding for people who think that this is absolutely blasphemous.