dir. Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin Jr
A recurring musical refrain in The Return of the King goes, “It’s so easy not to try.” It’s so easy to try and use that line to judge the film as a whole, but it’s not quite fair. Some trying went into it. The background animations are detailed and atmospheric, and the songs and narration occasionally have clever, evocative wordplay. But these glimpses of talent largely drown in a sea of confusion and sheer weirdness. Though the backgrounds look good, the characters look messy and unfinished. The story jumps around so much it’d be impossible for a Lord of the Rings newcomer to follow; the titular King isn’t even mentioned until the film is nearly over. Eowyn is an especially egregious example of a pivotal character appearing out of nowhere at the last minute. Much of the voice acting is very flat and lifeless, even when uttering such bafflingly bleak lines as “Die well, Samwise!” Though the songs have an occasional clever line, they’re hard to remember when the audience is assaulted by the repetition of other lines over and over and over again (“The wearer of the Ring, the bearer of the Ring!”). Overall, there’s some display of fondness for the source material, but when it comes to the character designs, the script, the voice acting, the repetitive music, the purpose of the film as a whole? Evidently, it’s so easy not to try.
BMDb 