weirdok I remember not too long ago, when Tolkien fans would trash this cartoon saying it was silly, stupid and such. I felt weird because, I loved this cartoon to death! If you ask me. it was a much better adaptation than the mega budget recent production.The part that always glued me to the set and still gives me chills to hear today, is when Bard takes up the black arrow. Nuff said. This was one of the book's greatest moments and has never since been portrayed in film as successfully as in this film.Beat me with a stick if you like, but I love the songs too.The voice acting was incredible. I don't think people even have the capability today to enjoy the excellent characterizations and talent displayed in this wonderful little film. It's like going back to watch Lon Chaney portraying the "Phantom of the Opera" and really grasping what a fantastic silent actor he really was.Yet, you can! Give it a try. This is definitely like finding your old childhood teddy bear still quite huggable. :D

Julian R. White I'm not really a "Lord of the Rings" fan, or even really a Tolkien fan. However, this film is a huge piece of my childhood. It's literally the perfect movie to have a cup of tea with on a rainy night. As a child, my cousins and friends slowly fell asleep in bed while watching this film. It's a great action epic. You will laugh and identify with the characters easily, and it's wonderfully put together. If you haven't seen it, watch it, and you'll never be the same.

Blueghost Rank and Bass were never known to use top quality studio art, and this version of The Hobbit is testament to that. Even so there is enough art in the character and overall production design to make it palatable to most visual pallets. But, it is offshore animation, meaning a Japanese production company took the script delivered by Rank and Bass and gave their rendition of a Northern European mythology."The Hobbit" is not a sterling book, but readable, and written for a pre-teen to mid-teen reading audience. As such, distilling the story to screenplay format means taking the key events and highlighting them for the visual format. The film suffers because there's little in the way of making a cohesive story. The writing does that on its own, which is testament to Tolkien's skill as a writer, because otherwise the film leaves little to bring the scenes together as a cohesive film. Essentially we're seeing a made for TV animated special, as was the original intent, and because of this the production limitations are noticeable, but for most children at the time this was aired, somewhat forgivable. I say somewhat because both Disney and Warner Brothers had shown children what good animation looked like.So when Japanese animators, used to cranking out anime episodes a week with low drawing count, comes and presents us a very Anglo tale with a Japanese tinge, the results are somewhat mixed.Even so there is a certain charm to this production in that it was the first filmed version of Tolkien's very entertaining story of Bilbo Baggins and his adventures. Bilbo represented the young boy reader, including myself, who read the tale years back before it became a media sensation in the 70s and again in the 2000s. I've always thought this rendition of "The Hobbit" had its high points, but was also a bit conservative, it being a children's film and the need to keep the violence in the story toned down for mass consumption. It would have been interesting to see what one of the big animation studios could do with the same tale.Not a bad film per se, but lacking in my personal judgment, primarily because it was "dumbed down" so to speak for a mass market. Still, it's an interesting watch, and likable in a nostalgia like manner.Give it a shot.

siderite I am rating below average because it is really quaint, with choir songs that tell the story and all characters in the film seeming rather simple minded. The animation is not great either, but today's standards, probably looking old even by 1977 standards.The story is that of a hobbit convinced (almost coerced) by Gandalf to go on an adventure with some dwarfs. His purpose: a burglar, to get some gold and split it with the 13 dwarfs. Of course, there is something weird with that, but only at the end Gandalf's plan will be revealed.The characters are all goofy, including Gandalf, and for no good reason, either. While I enjoyed watching it, the film rather bored me and I would not recommend it to anyone.