Ahead of the upcoming release of what will hopefully be the definitive film version of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, Warner Bros has released the original 3 Tolkien films: The Hobbit, The Lord Of The Rings, and The Return Of The King.
The Hobbit was simple but quite good; The LOTR (made by an entirely different set of film-makers) seriously flawed but ambitious; but this, the little-seen finale, is simply atrocious. Intended to wrap up the story-lines of the incomplete Ralph Bakshi version of The LOTR, it fails because for some unfathomable reason it omits a HUGE chunk of the storyline following the point where Bakshi's film quit. i.e. The LOTR film finished about halfway through the trilogy, but this starts at about the three-quarters mark of the story! Thus, it makes no sense whatsoever most of the time. Those who've read the books will know what's going on, but those who haven't -- even those who've seen the first 2 movies -- won't have a clue!!
As if the incomprehensible jumping-on point wasn't bad enough, we're also subjected to some truly horrendous songs, bad dialogue, poor pacing, very basic animation, etc. Truly a waste of time -- don't let that time be YOURS!! The other 2 films are worth a look (as average as they are), but this will only frustrate and depress you. I'd rather have lunch with Sauron than sit through this again!!!