The Lord of the Rings | The Original Cartoon

THE LORD OF THE RINGS

(The Lord of the Rings | in English with Hungarian subtitles)

color, subtitled, Anglo-American animated film, 132 min., 1978

directed by Ralph Bakshi

***Not recommended for children under 12!***

Frodo, a young hobbit, one day comes into possession of his uncle Bilbo’s ring, which is no ordinary ring: it is the One Ring, which belonged to the evil Lord Sauron until it found its way to Bilbo through a series of adventures. Sauron could conquer the world if he were to possess the ring once more.

Gandalf, the wise wizard and Frodo’s friend, warns him that enemies are lying in wait everywhere, seeking to seize the ring; therefore, the only option is to destroy the ring before Sauron can claim it. Thus begins Frodo’s long, adventurous, and arduous journey, at the end of which he must cast the One Ring into the cauldron of Mount Doom, from whence it was taken, for only there can it be destroyed.

The Lord of the Rings is an American animated film released in 1978, based on J. R. R. Tolkien’s novel trilogy The Lord of the Rings. This was the first serious attempt to adapt Tolkien’s novel into a film, but the animated film only tells half of the trilogy’s story. The reason for this is that bringing the novel’s grand narrative to the screen would have been a costly undertaking, which is why not much had been done previously toward a film adaptation; however, the cancellation of the animated film signaled that this project had also failed due to the significant costs, and no sequel was commissioned.