The Lord of the Rings: Animated has received a fresh Blu-ray reprint 15 years after the classic adaptation first arrived on Blu-ray. The Remastered Deluxe Edition displays in 1080p resolution and is accompanied by an interview series with the director about the creation of the film. You can preorder The Lord of the Rings: Animated Remastered Deluxe Edition for $22.49 at Amazon ahead of its June 24 release. Prior to this new printing, the Blu-ray was only available for a reasonable price if you opted for a region-free imported edition. Amazon also has the movie on DVD for only five bucks.
$22.49 | Releases June 24
The Remastered Deluxe Edition of The Lord of the Rings: Animated originally released on Blu-ray in 2010. Though a DVD edition of the remaster is still in print in North America, the Blu-ray edition, which will look significantly better on modern widescreen TVs, has been out of print locally for a number of years. Here are the key technical features found on the Blu-ray edition:
- 1080p HD resolution
- 16 x 9 aspect ratio (1.85:1)
- Dolby TrueHD English 5.1 Surround Sound
- Dolby Digital English 5.1
- French 1.0 / Spanish 2.0
- Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
The remaster also includes a series of interviews with director Ralph Bakshi titled: Forging Through the Darkness: The Ralph Bakshi Vision for The Lord of the Rings.
The animated adaptation of The Lord of the Rings released in theaters in 1978. It became a massive box office success, pulling in north of $32 million–roughly eight times the production cost. Critical reception was mixed, and many LOTR fans were displeased to learn the 133-minute film only covered The Fellowship of the Ring and a portion of The Two Towers.
Over the years, however, the film has earned a legion of fans, and it is now generally regarded as a cult classic. The film has some incredible sequences and some rather bizarre moments. In some ways, it reminds me of the 1993 live-action Super Mario Bros. movie. Both films take admirable risks that make it hard not to appreciate the ambition. But LOTR is certainly more faithful to the source material, and the writing is much better. The first couple of drafts were written by Chris Conkling, but later drafts were penned by The Last Unicorn author Peter S. Beagle and revised by director Ralph Bakshi.
Bakshi made some interesting choices with regards to the animation. The end result was a mix of cel animation and rotoscoping. Many scenes in the movie were first filmed live and then traced to make it look realistic in motion. For an animated film made in 1978, The Lord of the Rings looks pretty great.
Peter Jackson has stated that the animated adaptation was a huge inspiration for his live-action version of The Lord of the Rings.
Unfortunately, the animated film didn’t receive a sequel. Animated films of The Hobbit and The Return of the King were produced around the same time, but both of these were made-for-TV musicals. Both musicals are appropriate for young audiences, and they are actually better than you’d probably expect. That said, the musicals weren’t made by the same team, so the animation is quite different and not as effective. Remastered Deluxe Editions of both musicals are available on DVD. The latest printing of The Hobbit Remastered Deluxe Edition launched last year and is $22.49. The Return of the King’s Remastered Deluxe Edition is discounted to $12.40 at Amazon.
More than 40 years passed before the franchise returned to animation with The War of the Rohirrim. Set centuries before Jackson’s films and based on a section in The Lord of the Rings’ appendices, the anime released in theaters last December. It earned mixed reviews and was a box office flop. The story and characters are forgettable, but it’s still worth watching for its stylish and often beautiful animated sequences. The War of the Rohirrim is up for grabs for $13 on Blu-ray and $20 on 4K Blu-ray.
Check out all of the animated movies set in Middle-earth below.
For the live-action adaptations, including the recent 4K Limited Edition Steelbook releases of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, check out our roundup of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit Blu-rays and box sets below. For display-worthy editions of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit that are also very reasonably priced, check out the 2024 hardcover Collector’s Editions and the Tolkien Illustrated Edition Series.
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