With a troubled production and a chasm of tonal difference, you can't really expect anything more from this film than what it is. From word 'go' it was doomed to fail.
I have a strong fondness for the prior animated feature, the Hobbit. Songs were well-incorporated, episodes of that grand book were well-translated to film, even if they were quite hokey or cheesy at times. Regardless, the Hobbit has timeless charm and is definitely worth your time.
Now, take that same formula, but instead of the vibrant, colorful scenes of the Hobbit, let's incorporate the desolate browns, greys, and reds of Return of the King. The film is just far worse to look at than the Hobbit. Songs were incorporated in the first film, so songs are present here, even though all the songs are significantly less memorable, oftentimes interrupting to the point of being disruptive.
Post-hoc reasoning and explanation are the bane of storytelling. If you want to foreshadow the confrontation of "Sauron's right -hand" and Eowyn, you have to set it up. You need to lead with "No man can harm him" and also inform the viewer beforehand of her plan. When she just shows up, and Merry is all like, "Oh, yeah, he're a little exposition about who she is, why she's here, and why you should care!" The same is true with Aragorn's appearance on the black fleet, and several other cases in the film. The story is thus disjointed and unsatisfying.
The fairytale / storybook tone employed by the 1977 Hobbit just does not fly in the epic, saga-ending world-ending scenes of Return of the King.
That being said, if you're interested in the movie, I'd say watch it. What are you doing with an hour and a half? It's got some unique portions of the books that weren't covered in Peter Jackson's film. The voice acting is good. "When there's a whip, there's a way" is the one pretty good song in the movie, and that's worth seeing. But on the whole, this film is not good.
I have a strong fondness for the prior animated feature, the Hobbit. Songs were well-incorporated, episodes of that grand book were well-translated to film, even if they were quite hokey or cheesy at times. Regardless, the Hobbit has timeless charm and is definitely worth your time.
Now, take that same formula, but instead of the vibrant, colorful scenes of the Hobbit, let's incorporate the desolate browns, greys, and reds of Return of the King. The film is just far worse to look at than the Hobbit. Songs were incorporated in the first film, so songs are present here, even though all the songs are significantly less memorable, oftentimes interrupting to the point of being disruptive.
Post-hoc reasoning and explanation are the bane of storytelling. If you want to foreshadow the confrontation of "Sauron's right -hand" and Eowyn, you have to set it up. You need to lead with "No man can harm him" and also inform the viewer beforehand of her plan. When she just shows up, and Merry is all like, "Oh, yeah, he're a little exposition about who she is, why she's here, and why you should care!" The same is true with Aragorn's appearance on the black fleet, and several other cases in the film. The story is thus disjointed and unsatisfying.
The fairytale / storybook tone employed by the 1977 Hobbit just does not fly in the epic, saga-ending world-ending scenes of Return of the King.
That being said, if you're interested in the movie, I'd say watch it. What are you doing with an hour and a half? It's got some unique portions of the books that weren't covered in Peter Jackson's film. The voice acting is good. "When there's a whip, there's a way" is the one pretty good song in the movie, and that's worth seeing. But on the whole, this film is not good.