The Return of the King Deluxe Edition

This is the sequel to the Hobbit DVD which I have also reviewed. An excellent movie with outstanding animation and it tells the story exceptionally well. It is very high quality.

Rankin Bass classic! Beautiful digital quality.

less can be more.where there's a whip there's a way.I watched on tv this as a.kid. loved it. went on to read . lots, the hobbit and silmilariontells the story at a faster pace than Peter Jackson. leaves some stuff out, but I'd take the songs

Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass’s 1979 “The Return of the King” follows their 1977 version of “The Hobbit” and, following United Artists’ decision not to produce a sequel to Ralph Bakshi’s “The Lord of the Rings,” it also serves as an unofficial conclusion to that story. Since Rankin and Bass frame this film primarily as a sequel to “The Hobbit,” it uses Bilbo’s 129th birthday as a framing device, with Frodo telling the third volume of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” to him at the party. The film leaves off the scenes in Shelob’s lair while also omitting Gimli, Legolas, Arwen, and Saruman. While Aragorn appears, the titular king who’s doing the returning does not speak much. The film does include the Mouth of Sauron, however, while the character did not appear in Peter Jackson’s 2003 film. Though this story does feature some more intense scenes than “The Hobbit,” including Denethor’s madness and death, it appears unable to determine if it’s a children’s film or a more adult adaptation. As such, it doesn’t work as well as the Rankin/Bass “Hobbit.”John Huston reprises his role as Gandalf with Orson Bean also returning as Bilbo and portraying Frodo. Paul Frees is also back providing various voices. William Conrad joins the cast as Denethor. Don Messick, who voiced several characters for Hanna-Barbera cartoons, voices Théoden, Easterling, and The Mouth of Sauron. Casey Kasem voices Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck and his voice is instantly recognizable, sometimes pulling the viewer out of the story. Finally, Glenn Yarbrough, who sang most of the songs in “The Hobbit,” here portrays the Minstrel of Gondor, contributing new songs to the picture. Where the songs in “The Hobbit” were mostly based on those Tolkien himself wrote and included in the book, nearly all the songs in this film are original and further contribute to the disjointed tone. The color palette, however, closely resembles Alan Lee’s paintings.The bonus features on this disc replicate most of those on the DVD of Rankin/Bass’s “The Hobbit,” with a summary of Tolkien’s work along with that of Rankin & Bass and biographies of the cast & crew. Also like Rankin/Bass’s “The Hobbit,” this disc includes two WB cartoons: “Good Knight Droopy” and “Jerry Hood and His Merry Meeces.” Similarly the only connection these seem to have with “The Return of the King” is that Warner Brothers owns the rights to both and the stories in the cartoons take their inspiration from medieval fantasy.

Great summary of The Return of the King book! The songs are fun too. I loved this as a kid.

I remember watching this when I was a little boy. This DVD is great quality, has all the same songs that I remember. If you watched it back in the 80's you will love it. If you didn't you will probably find it very campy.

Widescreen fills the whole 88 inch TV. Excellent movie and quality. The songs and music in the movie are great as well as the story.

Great animation