Word: frodo
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Tolkien leaves his world open to interpretation. He does not dictate the exact appearance of the Black Riders, or the Balrog; he leaves it to us to envision these horrible things in the depths of our own minds. Likewise, each individual has his own Gandalf, his own Frodo, his own Middle Earth...
...greatest blow comes last, when one suddenly realizes that the voice-over at the end has calmly informed you that this is the first half of Frodo's journeys. In short, sucker, you paid all that money only to have to spend it again to see the sequel...
Some of Bakshi's spectacle is truly opulent. In the opening sequence, the forging of the evil ring that Frodo must return and destroy is an abstract symphony of blacks and blazing reds. The ring-wraiths who pursue Frodo are inky phantoms on horseback and lurching deformities on foot. The action flows across backdrops that are both eye-boggling and wildly diverse. Bakshi has suggested the range and variety of Middle-earth geography by displaying a scrapbook filled with conflicting styles. Those who enjoy humming the scenery can forget the plot and go on a spree of influence hunting...
Worse, this technique turns Frodo, the wizard Gandalf and the other main characters into simplified humans. Their personalities do not come from within but from behind, and they rarely seem anything other than what they are: acrylic images superimposed on something more real. Only occasionally does the action flower into independent life: when Frodo and a friend try to row the same boat in different directions; when the intrepid hobbits meet up with Gollum, a creature reduced by his former possession of the evil ring into broad, burlesque servility...
Lacking a firm center in Frodo's story, the film plays itself out as a bewildering parade of elves, dwarves, ores, trolls and talking trees. Exposition flies by in jabberwockian confusion. Even the most dedicated students of Tolkien may not recall instantly what Edoras and Isengard are, and nonreaders are likely to lose their way early in the journey. At the end, Frodo has still not reached the fire mountain in Mordor where his destiny lies, and the prospect of a sequel echoes during the closing credits. That might not be a bad idea. But if Frodo picks...