User reviews

I must say that I actually remember this movie with fondness. I've read comments that slam the film for either technical faults or the fact that it has left out a number of things.

All these things are true, of course.

Though I thought the artwork itself was quite good, the animation could use some work. Certainly things were left out.

Come on people! Certainly the film is no ten, but it is a decent version, given the fact that to fit the book into a film at all some liberties will be taken. Especially when it seems apparent that the film is aimed at children.

If you can't unwind a bit and just sit back and watch the film without always pointing out every little omission or alteration, then this film will disappoint. But if you can, then give this film a chance.

When I saw this movie around 1984 it sparked my interest in the Lord of the Rings series. I thought the drawing were outstanding (the thin lines on the characters shows the animators took the time to get details correct). The songs seemed a bit silly, but I thought the directors were trying to reflect the attidude of the book. Although fans of the book might say the movie had an oversimplifed plot, I thought the directors did an excellent job condensing a 200 page story into an adventuorous hour and half movie.

This was what introduced me to the Lord of the Rings, back in '77, when I was in 6th grade, it got the kids in my class to reading the trilogy and etc. Personally, I was all up for watching this, in the fall of '77, then the local TV station ran something else(MULLIGANS' STEW?!?) in its place. We were crushed in my family. I DID buy the record/sound track instead and listened to it to Death. Loved it-the voices and artwork both.

Didn't actually See this til '85...though had caught parts here and there...my thinking then and now is the same--Rankin-Bass did a fine job with it. Yes its done by Japanese animators, and No it isn't outta Allen Lee or whomever else' kind of drawing. But they stuck some interesting spins on what elves, dwarves, Wizards, Dragons and Hobbits look like, along with trolls and whatever, personally I found it to be interesting.

And how can you knock the voices-I mean-John Huston? Hans Conried, Cyril Ritchard, Theodore Bikel, Richard Boone, Don Messick, Orson Bean-and last but not least-Otto Preminger. Some legends here guys, esp. Otto and JHuston. I loved it! Rankin-Bass did make it more for kids, definately, and took some cuts here and there-Beorn and the Arkenstone bye-bye, for example, and no one is claiming the animation is up to, say, 'Aladdin' standards, but on its own, it works fine.

*** outta ****, pretty good, actually.

And Where is Leonard Maltin's review? somehow he missed this one...

I saw the Rankin/Bass 'Hobbit' for the first time when I was about eight or nine years old. I was enchanted by the movie, and I credit it with motivating me to read 'The Hobbit' and later 'The Lord of the Rings', thereby transforming me into a lifelong Tolkien fan (albeit not as die-hard as some, I admit). This is probably the highest praise I can give it.

I re-viewed the movie recently. How does it stand up now that I am older and better-versed in Tolkien? So-so, I would say. Some comments/criticisms, in no particular order:

* The movie, I now realize, was seriously hampered by time constraints. The creators attempted to squeeze a very eventful novel's story into a two-hour TV movie, with commercials. The result is that everything seems very hurried, events are piled on top of each other with great speed and moments that ought to be savored get rushed. Also, the periodic fade-outs/fade-ins for commercials are distracting.

* A product of its time, the movie is wall-to-wall with songs, most with lyrics written by Tolkien, one written originally for the film, all sung to '70s folk ballad melodies. Tolkien's elves should not sound like hippie chipmunks.

* The '70s context also gives the movie a strongly pacifist message. All scenes of fighting are rendered, somewhat awkwardly, so as to avoid any actual blood or carnage (a mortally wounded character will be glimpsed in a freeze frame that will then spin into a blur, mirroring the character's disappearance from this life, I suppose). Speeches about the glory of war are presented so as to make the advocates look ridiculous. None of this is a bad, and is even refreshing, but it is the work of Rankin/Bass, not Tolkien.

* Some of the key players are perfect: Orson Bean as Bilbo, John Huston as Gandalf, Richard Boone as Smaug and Theodore as Gollum bring great life and character to the movie. The one-on-one scenes between Bilbo and each of the other three are easily the best part of 'The Hobbit'.

Overall, the movie is best suited for the audience for whom it was intended, children. Kids will probably like it, and might even want to explore Tolkien further.

This isn't perfect, but it is beautiful and fun to watch. Far better than Jackson's overblown and silly version. No, not perfect but way more loyal to the book than Jackson's. Worth seeing but may be too scary in parts for smaller children.

It's certainly not what PJ could do with the Hobbit, but it certainly is nice. I think it captures the overall story pretty well. In fact, the only real complaint that I have is that sometimes the artistry lacked. OK, so they made everyone but Bard have fat or thin faces with either beaks, rocks, or boulders for noses. But other than that, it's quite enjoyable. Oh, and I was a little disappointed that they didn't have Beorn. But, I stopped crying after the first ten minutes when I realized they skipped him (ha ha).

There are some nice songs in it that kind of help the story along. The Riddles in the Dark part was pretty good too (although, I think they took the description in the Lord of the Rings of Gollum looking like a starved frog a little too far).

While it is a children's cartoon, adults can enjoy this too. If you happen to see it on the shelf of a store, pick it up. You might be surprised by what's in it.

It seems that everyone who gives this movie a low rating comments on the same problems, poor animation, poor adaption from the book, etc. However it seems to me that they are forgetting three very important things: 1. This movie was made for TV, so it had a lower budget than it would have in Hollywood, 2. It was made in 1977, so it has a lower quality animation than we are now used to now, and 3. It is a children's movie, they had to make it child friendly.

I remember spending a whole summer of my childhood watching this movie over and over again, nearly wearing out the tape. I have since read the book and still love and own the movie. In fact, to this day every time the subject of LOTR comes up I start humming "the greatest adventure...".

Great adaptation of The Hobbit for children . The voices are outstanding and there are a lot of fun songs that reflect Tolkein's poetry beautifully. I learned them all when I was a kid. The story is chopped up a bit but the character shine through.

The screen version of the Hobbit is enjoyable and in my opinion, especially so for younger children as it is not difficult to follow. That being said, I also enjoyed the film and thought it remained pretty faithful to the book. I thought the voice of Bilbo Baggins, the protagonist was well-done and righfully naive to the adventures of the world. Also enjoyed Gandalf's cahracter

This is a truly terrible adaption of Tolkiens great novel. It would be interesting to know what Tolkien himself thought of it. I think the animated version of Lord of the Rings are quite good, partly maybe because I grew up with it, but this is just sad. The movie is very poorly animated. The environments are acceptable but all the characters are really bad. The goblins look like frogs, Gollum like some sort of sleepy turtle, the wood elves look like ants and Smaug has the face of a cat. The story is also extremely rushed because the film is far too short but the worst thing of all is the annoying hippie music. There so many irritating details in this movie that I don't even dare to start arguing about them. Let's just hope that Peter Jackson will do a fine job so we'll have a good version of a marvelous tale to remember instead of crap like this.

They pulled out all the stops on this one. A glorious ensemble of voices including the legendary John Huston and Otto Preminger gave life to Tolkien's creation while the outstanding folk and fantasy score illuminates the story.

You'll see why Frodo was supposed to be an actor in his 50's for the LOTR trilogy (though Peter Jackson's opus was well cast anyway in every position).

This will whet your appetite until "Hobbit" is a full-length feature in theatres (fingers crossed) and no doubt, Mr. Jackson and his screenwriters will pull visuals and more from this timeless adaptation.

The only shame of it is annually, Rankin-Bass's Christmas offerings are still aired while The Hobbit and its sister production of Return Of The King (starring Roddy McDowell as Samwise The Brave!) aren't.

Catch that feature too as it picks up where the Ralph Bakshi stab at The Fellowship Of The Rings/Two Towers left off. -Matt Sherman

This movie was fairly good. When I watched it after reading the book, I noticed there are a lot of goofs and parts left out! For example, Beorn isn't in it, and there is a BIG change in the story when they are imprisoned by the elves. However, if you have not read the book, you will most likely enjoy this movie much more. I especially liked the backgrounds. They looked very neat. I would like to see another Hobbit movie... cartoon, film, I don't care! But this is really a little too outdated and has many bloopers in it (look at the animation, you'll see!) All in all, I gave it a 7/10.

If you are a Tolkien fan, don't see this. If you are not a Tolkien fan, don't see this. For the time, the drawings and animation are slightly above average, but very unrealistic. The battle scene is a bunch of dots sending flecks at each other. The accuracy to the book was barely there. The elves sounded and acted like refugees from a WW2movie, Words and names were mispronounced. And Smaug was an Oriental dragon. The only person who seemed to demonstrate any knowledge of the book at all was Richard Boone, who did an excellent job.

It is heart-warming to see that people are still contributing reviews for this film over 20 years since it first aired on t.v. in 1978. People considering renting it should remember that it was made for television, so don't look for Fantasia-quality animation; however, compared to other animation films I have seen it still looks great, and obviously a labor of love. The stills from certain scenes were so good they printed them as posters, which I kept in my room for a long time. Many characters were dropped out of necessity for television-viewing (it could have easily been as long as the first Ring movie), but the spirit of the book is intact; there is no unecessary carnage or bloodshed, the story is about courage, not violence, and the voice-work is unparalleled. Orson Bean was the perfect choice for Bilbo. If you rent it, watch it with the spirit of a 13 year-old, not the expectations and cynicism of an adult. If you have a 13 year-old who reads, get him a copy of the Hobbit. The film and book are head-and-shoulders above what is presently offered to children on television or in print.

In the context of a television production, eight out of ten stars for me.

It is possible that Rankin & Bass crafted the perfect adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's classic novel. It is certainly true to the source material and like all of their other collaborations it is so charming and full of heart. It's no mystery that I am a nerd for the universe. I love it all! I've read all of the books many times and I'm a huge fan of Peter Jackson's work on the topic. I never complained about him splitting his version of The Hobbit into three films. I was just happy to have so many movies to lap up, even with the over bloated liberties he took with the story. I loved it all! I own the extended editions of both The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings, so the amount of material will never be a problem for me. Rankin & Bass took the opposite route, choosing instead to trim all of the fat away and bind the most important elements into a svelte 78 minutes. This particular adaptation came out the year I was born, so I remember watching it as a young person. Watching it again recently brought back so much nostalgia, and while I'm accustomed to the lavish production values of Weta Workshop, there is still so much to love about the original cartoon. I enjoyed revisiting it immensely!

First - it's a wonderful introduction to full scale Fantasy, for anyone. But, for small children it's truly a gift. This is the Gateway for reading that most parents would die for. Children that watch this cry for more because it's usually the first thing in their lives that is not so dumbed down that they realize they've been had.

Second - for all those that love a quality story, this is the Grand-daddy of them all for modern times. Sure the story is told from a more artistic viewpoint than the Book is, but that just adds to the enjoyment. * read the Book.

Third - Since the current (wonderful) movies are coming out, this provides a foundation that makes them even more enjoyable.

Finally - Even in this animated version, one can tell why J.R.R. Tolkien is celebrated as one of the finest writers of the 20th century. These books provided the foundation of nearly all quality Fantasy/Sc-Fi books and movies for the last 75 years and will continue to inspire writers and moviemakers for a long long time to come.

Bilbo Baggins (Orson Bean's original voice) is swept into a quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug (Richard Boone's voice). Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey (John Huston's voice), Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakenshield (voice by Hans Conried). Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers. Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever ... Gollum. Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of guile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum's "precious" ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities ... A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.

An early adaptation of Tolkien's classic with the usual ingredients, magic, supernatural events, and dramatic impressions staged through primitive but enjoyable drawings. This sensational animated epic adventure is plenty of action , attractive roles, impressive battles , enjoyable drama, gorgeous frames and being pretty entertaining , in spite of only 77 min , while still managing to keep a quick enough pace for those unfamilar with the lengthy literary work . The movie packs a real sense of wonder and stimulating action set pieces illuminating the full-blown feats of the various protagonists and winding up in overlong battles and a stunning finale. The Hobbit contains incredible array of technical visual effects, being animated by Topcraft in Tokyo, a now-defunct Japanese animation studio whose animation team re-formed as Studio Ghibli under Hayao Miyazaki. Sensational and colorful cinematography and long-standing as well as sensitive musical score, including catching songs. Beautifully realized set design with phenomenal production values and lavishly produced by Harvey and Bob Weinstein . The film provides amusement enough during the seventy minutes and stays closer to the novel than any of the former adaptations -mostly animated and in low budget- such as the mediocre effort by Ralph Baski who directed an animated version of ¨The Lord of the Rings¨. The motion picture will appeal to Tolkien followers as the neophyte who didn't have seen the previous and subsequent cinematic adapted works. Stunning direction by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr, bringing competently the fantastic world and mythology of the great British author to life. Bass and Rankin, produced and directed 'The Hobbit (1977)(TV)' and 'The Return of the King (1980)(TV)', both of which were later remade as live-action films by Peter Jackson. Both films also feature some casting similarities. Rankin and Bass hired Orson Bean to be the voice of Bilbo, and later Frodo as well. The older Bilbo in Jackson's film is played by Ian Holm, largely on account of his having played Frodo in the BBC Radio version. The three trolls in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) are all voiced by actors who also play one of the dwarves. Rankin and Bass's version did the same, although the actors do not play the same dwarves in both versions.

This is the second film version of the Hobbit, the original was a 1966 12-minute animated short produced by Gene Deitch. There are various roles in The Hobbit are related to characters in The Lord of the Rings. Bilbo is of course Frodo's uncle. He is also a Took on his mother's side, making him a cousin to Peregrin Took (Pippin). Elrond is actually a great-uncle to Aragorn (several generations removed). Gloin is the father of Gimli, while the Elven King (named Thranduil) is the father of Legolas. The Hobbit(1977) is well worth watching it, along with Peter Jackson's trilogy : The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) , The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) and another Jackson trilogy: ¨The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)¨ ¨The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers¨ (2002) and ¨The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King¨ (2003) , all of them magnificently directed by Peter Jackson .

'The Hobbit' in its animated shape is what we have to go with until Peter Jackson finishes the LotR prequel (hey, it's bound to happen...), but it doesn't mean all one should do is wait for that occasion. Watch the Rankin-Bass classic!

Rankin-Bass are behind the huge 80's successes 'Thundercats', 'Silverhawks' etc and also shine here with their interpretation of Tolkien's masterpiece. 'The Hobbit' is in this shape more of a family/children's movie than the new Lord of the Rings movies, and its runtime of only 78 minutes makes it feel a little stressed through since the scenes aren't given much time each. But nevertheless, it features good animation, solid voicework and music that is FAR MORE fantasy-like than the more majestic approach in Peter Jackson's movies. See this movie with your children!

Only backdraft I have to say is the runtime. 8/10

Like I said, the film is obviously focused on family viewing, leaning more towards kids, so remember that if you plan on watching it. As per keeping with the book, the movie does fairly, and it does a great job of setting up the viewer for "The Lord of The Rings."

Really, I haven only one major complaint about this film: the music. Every few minutes, a minstrel will play a few lines of song, serving as the movie's narrator until Bilbo takes over near the end. Not that I have anything against minstrels (they're very lovely people), but the music and cheesy vocals really do not flow with the film. Honestly, the movie would probably be twice as good without them.

Other than that, it's pretty good and worthy of renting (or buying cheap). Enjoy!

Many Tolkien fans who have written reviews say that this movie has done bad things to the book. They say it oversimplifies it, that it takes out parts that shouldn't've been taken out, that it turns it from a novel for mature readers into a movie for 'kids'. I've read the book, and been watching this movie for many years. I have to disagree that this is a movie just for children-- when I was younger and watched this movie, I did not realize the philosophical lessons present from beginning to end. Bilbo begins his day just like any other day-- he washes his dishes, cleans his hobbit hole, and leaves it to go outside and smoke his pipe. Then, from the suddeness of destiny, his life is changed. He's taken from his quiet home in the Shire, to begin his Greatest Adventure. An adventure that changes him from shy, unsure, afraid, and reluctant, into a confident, wiser, and better man. "The Chances, the Changes, are all yours to make. The mold of your life is in your hands to break." This happens to all of us in our lives. We leave our happy, unknowing-of-danger homes, and are taken through hard times, until finally, we take those steps into the cave, and we face our fears. "...but to take those last steps. That would be the bravest of all things. Whatever happens afterwards is nothing."

The songs are beautiful, with tunes that will have you humming at work. The song 'The Greatest Adventure', if you listened to carefully, can tell you much about what you will have to do in your own hard times. This is a beautiful, wonderful movie. Not just the animation and the music, but the lesson it can teach.

"So, Mr. Bilbo Baggins... Do you turn back?"

To date I think this is one of the best film renditions of a Tolkien project. It features beautiful line-drawn animation (although some of the faces are a little simple) and a good mix of folk music and fantasy elements. The music is minimalist but largely effective and was spoofed by South Park in an episode about the hamster, Lemmy-winks.

My high compliments go to the fact that Ralph Bashi, Orson Bean and company are quite inspired for this relatively low-budget project. Had certain story elements been left unabridged (there are a few moments where plot points are quickly summarized, such as in the Forest or with the absence of Baldur) and the elves been drawn more eloquently and been given nicer voices (they sound German?!) this would have definitely ranked higher.

This film is also higher-quality than the same group's later animation of "The Return of the King". The music in this one is far superior (harpsichord flourishes!) and paces much better. This is a fine kids' movie and is wonderfully complimented by the graphic novel of The Hobbit illustrated by David Wenzel. That comic is actually unabridged and features gorgeous watercolor paintings.

6.5