Ahead of the upcoming release of what will hopefully be the definitive film version of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, Warner Bros has released the original 3 Tolkien films: The Hobbit, The Lord Of The Rings, and The Return Of The King. <p>The Hobbit was simple but quite good; The LOTR (made by an entirely different set of film-makers) seriously flawed but ambitious; but this, the little-seen finale, is simply atrocious. Intended to wrap up the story-lines of the incomplete Ralph Bakshi version of The LOTR, it fails because for some unfathomable reason it omits a HUGE chunk of the storyline following the point where Bakshi's film quit. i.e. The LOTR film finished about halfway through the trilogy, but this starts at about the three-quarters mark of the story! Thus, it makes no sense whatsoever most of the time. Those who've read the books will know what's going on, but those who haven't -- even those who've seen the first 2 movies -- won't have a clue!! <p>As if the incomprehensible jumping-on point wasn't bad enough, we're also subjected to some truly horrendous songs, bad dialogue, poor pacing, very basic animation, etc. Truly a waste of time -- don't let that time be YOURS!! The other 2 films are worth a look (as average as they are), but this will only frustrate and depress you. I'd rather have lunch with Sauron than sit through this again!!!
Review of The Return of the King
