The Return of the King
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Return of the King |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1980 |
| length | 98 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director |
Arthur Rankin Jr. , Jules Bass |
| script |
Romeo Muller , JRR Tolkien (novel) |
| production |
Arthur Rankin Jr. , Jules Bass , Masaki Ihzuka |
| music | Maury Laws |
| occupation | |
| |
The Return of the King is an English-language animated film from 1980, based on the book The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien .
action
The film begins with Bilbo's 129th birthday , which is celebrated in Rivendell . During the celebration, Bilbo suddenly realizes that Frodo only has nine fingers. At this point in the film, the film jumps back in the story to the point where Frodo and Sam came to Cirith Ungol , on the border to Mordor , and where the spider Shelob caught Frodo. Sam, who saves Frodo in this situation, is tempted for a moment and the question arises whether he should not claim the ring . Gandalf and Pippin reach Minas Tirith and warn Denethor , the stewardess of Gondor , of the approaching war. During the events in Gondor, Frodo and Sam's journey continues. They have now entered Mordor and have come a long way. You are standing on Mount Doom and want to destroy the ring. Suddenly Gollum intervenes . He bites the ring from Frodo's finger, is now the master of the ring, but through carelessness falls into the flames of the mountain. The ring is destroyed. Previously, the soldiers of Gondor and their allies from Rohan had won a victory on Pelennor Fields and Aragorn had led an army to the gates of Mordor, although the battle seemed hopeless just to buy Frodo time. But now the ring and the dark side are destroyed. The battle is won and Aragorn is crowned King of Gondor. At this point the film jumps back to Bilbo's birthday. Frodo decides to accompany Bilbo when he leaves Middle-earth and goes west .
background
The film was produced by Rankin / Bass Productions and animated by the Japanese studio Topcraft , which later became Studio Ghibli . It was first broadcast on US television on May 11, 1980 .
The Return of the King was filmed by the producers and directors of The Hobbit and is related to them in terms of content. It is also considered to be a sequel to The Lord of the Rings cartoon from 1978, although the two differ considerably in their design. The director of the cartoon from 1978, Ralph Bakshi , had planned to shoot a second part himself, but because of the poor success of its implementation it did not materialize. The animation producers Rankin & Bass, who maintained good contacts in Japan and later released The Last Unicorn as an animated film, were very interested in a sequel. For this reason, The Last Unicorn and The Return of the King show graphic similarities.
The film is distributed by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) and Warner Bros. There is no German dubbing or German subtitles .
Web links
- The Return of the King in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Return of the King at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- Images of the CED edition of the film (English)