i remember watch this late at night on black and white tv and long before a live action version be so much a a twinkle in peter jackson eye . and be very impressed . finally get my hand this week on a vhs copy that be be throw away ( and isn not that just par for the course . ) i have the chance to revisit this film and and find that it still stand up quite well and although it not quite the success that memory have paint . i have to confess to a certain bias here . some reviewer announce themselves a confirm jackson lover and others a jackson hater while i be not exactly either . i be a devotee of the bbc radio adaptation by brian sibley originally broadcast in 1981 and and instantly recognise the voice of gollum here peter woodthorpe would reprise this performance almost note perfect for the radio three year later . i must say and however and that where i find jackson film an increasingly indulgent disappointment and the bakshi version and for all that it have be cut to the bone and be actually more accurate . yes and there be the usual and understandable change ( here it be legolas rather than arwen who be substitute for glorfindel a the elf send from rivendell to meet the party ) and there be a great deal of telescoping of the action . ( the only exception to the latter and a others have remark and be the oddly extended sequence at the ford of rivendell and where the ringwraiths and have demonstrate a chill ability to freeze and draw back frodo in mid flight which they deploy again when he defy them after cross the river then for some unexplained reason simply chase after him in a prolonged straight gallop and which be initially nightmarish but pointless and plot wise and and definitely go on too long . ) i would also agree that the balrog be unsatisfactory and due partly to bad animation and and that gandalf windmills his arm too much . but have watch both approach to the film and i feel more than ever that the animated route be the one to take . in a tale that be half myth ( oddly enough and one thing that be include be a snippet of aragorn story of beren and luthien ) the extreme literalism require by live action filming and where everything from monster to mail shirt have to be create in detail to appear on camera and be counter productive represent latex face ( or cgi ) monster be less monstrous than sketchily draw shape and heroic costume tend to look rather silly wear on real body and and hobbit or dwarf with non human body proportion be easy to animate but hard to film convincingly . many reviewer have cite the sniff ringwraith in the wood and with it cripple and half human movement and a one of the scary moment in the film it certainly frighten me silly when i saw it for the first time alone in the dark . the extreme stylisation of the introduction ( plus a voice over do with great skill and economy to sum up the back story in a few sentence ) work very well to depict an almost mythical era and and the change to the comic book rusticism of the shire i particularly like the proudfeet correspond effectively to the similar change in tone of tolkien prose . i do feel that there be some missed opportunity where the potential of animation could have be use to great effect represent gandalf threaten bilbo with his true power in the opening scene and bilbo seeming to become a gollum like creature under the influence of ring lust at rivendell and and galadriel famous temptation speech all be draw more or less straight and where it would have be trivial to distort the scene to reflect the hobbit change perception . but generally speak the change in detail and palette firelight hue at bree and bright colour re emerge at rivendell and in the fangorn clearing and dirty grey and brown for moria and the desolate land work well to reflect the mood of the various episode and where a live action approach simply doesn not allow you to blur the background or sketch in a stylised setting . a a fan i do not care for either jackson or bakshi depiction of lothlorien again and i feel that the radio soundscape be the best evocation i have come across of a beautiful and slightly uncanny woodland paradise catch out of time and i feel that bakshi get the elven singing at this point pretty badly wrong and but i do like the little montage at this point show the various member of the company relax together after their travail in moria . aragorn give a hobbit fence lesson here be a charm ( and equally uncanonical ) a spectacle a boromir engage with the hobbit in hollin in the jackson version . the depiction of aragorn a convincingly weatherworn ranger be good throughout this film ( viggo mortensen scruffy jesus look really do not work for me ) and although it would have be interest to see how they plan to clean up the character in the second half for gondor benefit . john hurt and unsurprisingly and give a sterling vocal performance and a do a resonant william squire in the part of gandalf . the hobbit be and i suspect and intend to reflect contemporary youth a audience identification figure represent i find the animated style ( their proportion be much more cartoonish than those of the human character ) work well to differentiate them and and the whole hairy foot thing a drawn here come across as much more plausible than in more literal depiction and include much fan art . personally i have less objection to boromir a viking he be always a fairly bludgeon type than to beardy aragorn ( illogical represent they be both numenorians and after all ) and although i be clearly in a minority here . the big flaw in this picture be always go to be the fact that it be an unfinished project and with a bizarre tack on voice over end attempt to resolve matter . a pity while it would have be interest and not to mention less frustrating and to see what bakshi plan to make of shelob and mina tirith and never mind the dead .