Hodgepodge-y animated feature, with the figures drawn in an alienatingly different style from the backgrounds and with the more complicated crowd scenes handled by way of trick photography that is closer to live action than to animation. Those who have resolutely dodged the Tolkien trilogy prior to seeing the movie are certain to be confused inside of two minutes, and they will not get a chance to clear their heads once the action lunges into the thick of a war seemingly with no issues and no basis for taking sides except that certain of the combatants look pleasanter, cuter, human-er than others. And if they had hoped, by seeing the movie now, to get the gist of the Tolkien tale in one sitting, they will be sorely let down to discover that, after investing two and a quarter hours, they have gotten nowhere near the finish. Directed by Ralph Bakshi. (1978) — Duncan Shepherd
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