Last night we sat down to watch the animated version of THE HOBBIT. M had watched it as a kid, and I had never seen it. Although this would be my first time watching it, I was aware of its existence and heretofore had mostly associated it with my Walmart era. In the early aughties, back when most Walmarts typically had at least one huge bin of cheap DVDs in a main aisle, there were always several copies of THE HOBBIT and its kin, LORD OF THE RINGS, floating near the top. I remember looking at them once and thinking, Well, these just look terrible. And tossing it back onto the DVD graveyard.
So imagine my surprise when I found myself enjoying the hell out of it. It’s not a great movie, but the animation was eclectic and drew me in, and the voice acting was rock solid. (Thirty minutes in, listening to Gandalf talk, I was like, John Huston? Yep.) The songs were goofy but somehow worked with the dialogue and animation.
A couple of my favorite bits:
- Bilbo plucking the ring out of the underground lake, like, “ahh a souvenir from my adventures,” even though Gollum had clearly been living there for a while. His shit was everywhere. Not once did it cross Bilbo’s smooth brain that maybe the ring was Gollum’s. Or maybe the thought did occur to him and he simply didn’t care. I think I’d prefer that, actually.
- Gandalf leaving the Dwarves and Bilbo to go on a sidequest but having to haul ass back to save them, right as they’re about to die, multiple times, will never not be funny. The Dwarves are like an idiot pet you can’t leave alone for more than five minutes because they will somehow endanger their own life. Absolutely zero instincts for survival.
I don’t know how the animated film stacks up with HOBBIT novel purists or fans of the Peter Jackson films. I only made it 45 minutes into the first live-action HOBBIT film before turning it off because nothing was fucking happening. And I’ve never read the book, nor had any inclination to… until now. Now, it’s next on my TBR pile. All because of this charming little animated film from the 70s.