I actually enjoy the Rankin-Bass movies. Of course they don't do everything right, such as Beorn (who is as present as Tom Bombadil), and the elves (I wonder how many people would Lego if he looked like that!
, and don't you just love Elrond's beard and halo!), but I really like the songs. I'll often burst into a verse of "Frodo of the Nine Fingers", or "Tra la la lally", or "When there's a whip, there's a way". They keep some of the best lines, like Smaug's boasting and Éowyn's speech to the Witch-king (well, they don't keep all of it, but it's far closer than Peter got!
)
Yes, the minstrel gets annoying eventually, and Denethor's madness is strangely incorporated, and Faramir is seen a grand total of 3 times, and the Nazgul are poorly done, and mispronounce several Elvish names, but hey, they also have the Elessar, and Elladan and Elrohir (their backs at least when Aragorn's planning the march to the Morannon), and the
correct finger being lost, and the Watchers, and the Red Arrow.
The Bakshi version on the other hand………the men eventently hadn't invented pants yet (yes Elentarí_O_Most_Mighty_1, that's trousers to everyone in the world besides Americans), and they butcher Elf names even worse, and Lego looks like a pig, Boromir, a viking, and Elrond, just
normal , like a dad you would see at some school function, and their treatment of Éowyn: "Hey look, it's Éowyn…back to the
real story.", and the lament of Gandalf, as I remember it was far too happy.
This movie actually lead to some rather embarassing misconceptions:
I still hadn't read the books yet. I didn't know it was m-E-R-r-y, so him looking like a girl didn't help matters. And as I watched Cate Blanchette and Elijah Wood at the Mirror of Galadriel, at Galadriel's line "He will try to take the Ring." I was wondering, "Okay, that Boromir guy looks like he would want the Ring, but it was the guy with the Viking hat in the cartoon, and wasn't that Gimli?"
But on the brighter side, almost everything said in that movie is straight from the book, and said when it was said in the book (like "If by my life or death I can protect you, I will." at Bree!
). And as said before, they actually have the 17 yr. gap (altough done poorly), and Frodo talking to the Ringwraiths at Bruinen (a part I very much enjoy in the books), and Aragorn having the Sword that was Broken. And I completely agree with Essex about the 'conspiracy unmasked' part.
And of course the brightest part of the cartoons:
Neither has any referance to Arwen! (which I think is the better extreme.) j/k.