The Lord of the Rings (1978)
Directed by Ralph Bakshi
Young Hobbit Frodo Baggins is thrown into an amazing adventure when he's tasked with destroying the One Ring, created by the dark lord Sauron. Frodo must travel in a small fellowship of nine warriors and accomplices. But it won't be an easy journey for the Fellowship of the Ring, on the ultimate quest to rid Middle-earth of evil.
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What critics compared The Lord of the Rings to
There isn’t a cohesive world here, as in The Lord of the Rings or Star Wars, both of which Huntsman desperately evokes: instead, there’s random bits of magic and landscapes that make no organic sense but are strung together because, hey, ya gots to have snowy mountains and swampy Pits of Despair and castles on the ocean all within easy walking distance of one another in a fantasy flick.
From the ambitious battle scenes to the grandiose monsters, Sanders is aiming for a scale of fantasy reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings.
English commercial director Rupert Sanders makes his feature debut with a splash, launching a fantasy-adventure franchise that probably isn’t as good as any of the things it references — the classic Walt Disney film, of course, but also “The Lord of the Rings,” the Narnia series, “Game of Thrones,” “Star Wars,” Shakespeare and countless other works besides — but comes close enough, I’d guess, to carve out its own niche and create its own fan base.
Taking its cue from Twilight, Red Riding Hood and The Lord of the Rings, Snow White and the Huntsman very, very much longs to be a dark fairy tale, the sort where the skies are always charcoal gray and the characters are forever uttering their dialogue with an air of heavy significance.
A full-force fairy tale that takes the Grimms' twisty yarn and adds heapings of The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, Joan of Arc, and Celtic myth, Snow White and the Huntsman - with Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth in the title roles - is not your grandmother's Disney cartoon.
Aspects of the plot recall "The Lord of the Rings" (particularly, of course, with Frodo on board), the visuals feel quite Burtonesque (with much Henry Selick thrown in) and the creation of the dolls echoes the work of the puttering puppeteer from "Toy Story 2."
(Interestingly, Elijah Wood, who undertook one of the most classic big-screen quests of recent years in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, voices the lead doll.)
Whether your heart beats for space adventures like Star Wars or more grounded, yet equally magical, fantasy worlds like The Lord of the Rings, this is the story that came before them all.
Each of the numerous animators on the project put their own imprint on the rotoscope technique use - that is, animating live action film, something developed by Ralph Bakshi years ago with "Wizards" and "The Lord of the Rings".
The first film to extensively employ the technique of rotoscoping live-action images into animation since Ralph Bakshi's 1978 The Lord of the Rings, the method behind Waking Life's madness is a good deal more than a tripped-out psychedelic nightmare.
Bakshi uses rotoscoping, that is, a process by which live-action footage is animated by artists (much like Richard Linklater’s recent film, Waking Life).
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Yes the formula is a little familiar, reminiscent of both Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Lord of the Rings , but much like Moana, the fusion of creativity and a different cultural perspective breathes new life into the well-trodden structure.
…and in desperate need of a merciless editor (this isn't an epic like The Lord of the Rings, so there's no need for it to be over two hours).
It's enough to convince Grug to join up with Guy on the road to a mystical mountain straight out of Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings , though their final destination looks more like Cabo.
While it's true that there have been animated fantasy movies before, they have either been hampered by poor production values (Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings) or aimed at a less mature audience (Disney's The Black Cauldron).
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After all, this film also features Michael Caine and Elijah Wood, both of whom have contributed to the haulings of major franchises with Batman and The Lord of the Rings, respectively.