Director Ralph Bakshi’s classic 1978 animated version of The Lord of the Rings is getting a brand, new remastered Blu-ray treatment. Warner Bros will release the Deluxe Edition in 1080p HD tomorrow (June 26). The Blu-Ray will feature interviews and upgraded visuals..
First released in 2010, the Remastered Deluxe Edition has been out of print in the U.S. for a few years. The new reprint features:
- 1080p HD resolution
- 16:9 aspect ratio (1.85:1)
- Dolby True HD 5.1 Surround Sound (English)
- Dolby Digital 5.1 (English), French 1.0, Spanish 2.0
- Subtitles: English, French, and Spanish
The disc also includes a special feature titled Forging Through the Darkness: The Ralph Bakshi Vision for The Lord of the Rings, an interview series in which Bakshi discusses the making of the film and its legacy. The animated movie features the voice talents of Christopher Guard as Frodo, William Squire as Gandalf, Michael Scholes as Samwise, John Hurt as Aragorn, Anthony Daniels as Legolas and Peter Woodthorpe as Gollum.
While critics were not too kind to the movie (the titles has a 49% score on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie achieved a cult status among Tolkien fans. Time Magazine critic Paul Gray, for example, noted, “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.” People magazine noted, “Ralph Bakshi’s imagination was on the Fritz; his animated version of Tolkien’s fable made Middle-earth look like Grand Central Station during the rush hour of the Ores. Empire Magazine wrote, “What most people remember is the mix of the live-action tracing within the traditional animation and just how effectively creepy it managed to be, but for the time this did a pretty good job of adapting the dense novels.”
Watch the trailer below:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4X5LkSxpNc
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