Reviews for The Hobbit

The first of Rankin/Bass' two attempts to bring the world of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth to life, and for the most part it succeeds.

"The Hobbit," based on the novel of the same name by J.R.R. Tolkien, tells the tale of a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins who is thrown into a quest for dwarves' treasure against his will. On his journey he discovers many things about himself, as well as a certain artifact that will come into play in Tolkien's later Middle Earth books (and if you don't know what that is well, then...I can't really help you).

The animation for this film was wonderful. It looked like great attention to detail had been given to all of the crucial characters as well as locations, such as Gollum's cavern. Smaug especially was quite impressive-looking. The voice work also made the movie, citing such names as Orson Bean, Hans Conried and John Huston as the wizard Gandalf. When reading the book, its these voices that often come to mind more than any others.

The music in this movie is wonderful, staying true to Tolkien's verses from the novel and not popping up in completely inappropriate places. There is only one song in the movie that is not from the book: "The Greatest Adventure," the title song for the movie. It is not out of place, and fits the whole theme of the film excellently.

Many have complained that this movie is too short, not incorporating a whole lot of the original novel. However, at about 77 minutes running, Rankin/Bass' version of The Hobbit is the perfect introduction into the world of J.R.R. Tolkien, especially for children.