Lord of the Rings (1978) distributed by United Artists Films

After watching Asylum’s A Woman’s Perspective on ‘Lord of the Rings’, I think it should have been titled “A Non-Fan who Happens to be a Woman Thinks The ‘LotR’ Movies are Stupid.”  It was a half-hearted attempt to make fun of the Peter Jackson series, but there’s a lot more to laugh about in this 55 year old book trilogy than the box art.  To celebrate the end of Tolkien Week, I have reviewed the much reviled 1978 version of The Lord of the Rings by Ralph Bakshi.  Just to make things clear, I am both a fan of the books and the Peter Jackson movies: I’ve read the books, including most of the appendices, and for women who are into romance novels rather than fantasy, the story of Aragorn and Arwen in Appendix A is really touching.  I’ve seen the extended versions of all three movies, all of the extras, and I treasure those gigantic box sets with foldout flow charts that navigate the 4 DVDs per box (yes, I have no life).

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