Tirdun Review of The Return of the King

The Return of the King (1980 TV Movie)

An attempt to finish Bashki's "Lord of the Rings" fails.

[1/10 · 2 August 1999]

For whatever reason, somebody decided to finish Ralph Bashki's "Lord of the Rings" movie. The movie itself was awful, not to mention incomplete. There was supposed to be a conclusion movie, which was never made. For good reason. The primary failure of this movie was that it (A) Assumed you hadn't seen the first movie and (B) Assumed you had. Confused? Go see the movie, then you'll really be confused. The movie retells the entire plot of the "Lord of the Rings" in the form of a very long and confusing song which fails to either fully bring you up to speed on the plot or entertain you very much. The characters are then thrown headlong into a poorly animated rendition of the last book of the story, through a blazing and mainly incomprehensible series of events which make no sense unless you've either read the actual book, or are psychic and can pull plot points out of the aether. Regardless, the movie fails in its attempt to complete the story, which isn't surprising considering the quality of the first movie. Read the book.