Every Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movie ranked from worst to best

Of the films that adapt JRR Tolkien's epic The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit books, not all are considered equal. Released in 1937 to immediate popularity, JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit introduced Middle-earth – the literary fantasy kingdom to rule them all. In 1954, Tolkien began expanding his mythology with The Fellowship of the Ring – the first part of it Lord of the Rings trilogy, finding even greater acclaim and establishing the series as a culturally defining body of work.

The Lord of the Rings has gripped generation after generation for nearly a century, but compared to most timeless novels, relatively few attempts have been made to translate Middle-earth to the silver screen. Filmmakers struggled to conceptualize the scale of Tolkien's words on screen, and even the Beatles – tall as they were – ultimately decided not to film a live-action film. Lord of the Rings. Although some lesser-known releases have come before, Peter Jackson The Fellowship of the Ring marked the first serious effort to transform The Lord of the Rings in a movie.

Released in December 2001, The Fellowship of the Ring would change the landscape of cinema forever. Jackson followed with The Two Towers and The Return of the Kingand the entire trilogy was met with applause, wads of cash and recognition at the awards ceremony. Just over a decade later, the director returned to Middle Earth to The Hobbitwhich also turned into a trilogy (not without controversy). 2024 saw the launch of War of the Rohirrimwith The Hunt for Gollum planned as the next film in 2026.

10

The Return of the King (1980)

Directed by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr.

After the film fraternity was collectively considered The Lord of the Rings impossible to adapt, animators attempted to bring Tolkien's world to life in cartoon form… with limited success. 1980s The Return of the King represents the worst of the group. After prior adaptation The HobbitArthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass decided to turn Tolkien's final climactic book into a 2-hour animated adventure.

Rankin himself would later describe the effort as “It's not a very good film“, which reveals everything you need to know about it early Return of the King retelling. The tone is all wrong, the production leaves a lot to be desired and the plot is too condensed, resulting in a cartoon that doesn't even come close to paying homage to the original material.

9

The Lord of the Rings

Directed by Ralph Bakshi

Believe it or not, Ralph Bakshi Lord of the Rings was the definitive Tolkien adaptation before Peter Jackson appeared. Coverage The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers (but strangely disconnected from Rankin & Bass' The Return of the King), 1978 The Lord of the Rings cartoon suffers from inferior animationusing the rotoscoping technique to trace photographs of live action actors.

If other Middle Earth cartoons fell into the trap of catering to children, Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings took the opposite path, Widely considered a sad drug trip, let down by obvious production flaws and lackluster performances. An impressive achievement for the time, perhaps, but Bakshi's work The Lord of the Rings is best described as a curiosity within Tolkien's broader tapestry. It's worth a try, but handle with caution.

8

The Hobbit (1977)

Directed by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr.

Before massacring The Return of the KingRankin & Bass did a little better in animation The Hobbit in 1977. Tolkien's most child-friendly novel adapted to its format and with considerably less material to cram The Hobbit it didn't fight as desperately as its eventual sequel. However, many of the same flaws apply.

Tonally, The Hobbit is stuck selling almost exclusively to young peopleand the scattered plot leaves many glaring gaps, diluting what made JRR Tolkien's first journey through Middle-earth so special. The voice cast (which includes Orson Bean, John Huston, and Theodore Gottlieb) delivers admirable performances, but the visuals and dialogue have a youthful quaintness that undermines any attempt to authentically recapture The Hobbitmagic book.

7

The Battle of the Five Armies

Directed by Peter Jackson

Peter Jackson's quest to transform Middle-earth into a cinematic behemoth redefined the fantasy genre, but The Hobbit the trilogy was much less revolutionary. The final part, 2015 The Battle of the Five Armiesindulges in long battles, but, having already turned a single book into two long films, it loses steam in the plot department. The Battle of the Five Armies'True strength lies in your calmest moments – the resolution of Bilbo Baggins' journey and the conclusion of Thorin Oakenshield's attempt to reclaim Erebor.

These relationships between hobbit and dwarf give The Battle of the Five Armies your emotional core, but a lack of focus often draws attention elsewhere. Meanwhile, visible CGI padding weighs down Peter Jackson's final chapter, once again highlighting the folly of extending The Hobbit in a trilogy. While Jackson's The Lord of the Rings additions helped smooth the path from page to screen, The Hobbitthe film's original elements don't work as welland this is especially evident in The Battle of the Five Armies.

Legolas feels out of place, Tauriel and Kili's romance feels hopelessly forced, and Alfrid proves to be a superfluous villain who adds to the bloat. There's a real conflict between the gigantic titular battle for the fate of Erebor and the arcs of The Hobbitcentral characters. However, Richard Armitage's extroverted performance in Thorin has enough gravitas for all 13 dwarvesand Peter Jackson still delivers the most spectacular battle sequences in town.

6

The Desolation of Smaug

Directed by Peter Jackson

THE Hobbit middle child of the trilogy, The Desolation of Smaug, is the entry most affected by Peter Jackson's three-film plan. Neither beginning nor end, The Desolation of Smaug lack The Two Towers'luxury to be drawn up as a linking chaptercreating a hesitation that never goes away. The jewel in The Desolation of SmaugTolkien's crown is the dragon itself, portrayed in all Tolkien's fearsome grandeur by Benedict Cumberbatch.

As a fully CG character, Smaug rivals The Lord of the Rings' Gollum for his presence and personality, and his sequence with Martin Freeman's Bilbo (not the Sherlock reunion that we expected, but still…) justifies The Hobbitthe film treatment alone. Bilbo matching wits with his fire-breathing nemesis is Peter Jackson at his giddy, playful best – a perfect marriage between action and character. It takes a long time to get there.

Thrown back into action with Thorin's company of dwarves, there are detours into Elven territory, the setting of Sauron from Tolkien's broader writings, and an overly long exploration of Lake Town – all before Smaug has properly reared his head. bright. And yet, strangely, other opportunities for expansion beg, like Mikael Persbrandt's Beorn, which gets woefully short attention spans in live action. The Desolation of Smaug it also tests the audience's appetite for CGI. Despite (mostly) replicating the high quality expected from WETA, The Desolation of SmaugThe sheer volume of digital effects removes the tactile nature that underpinned The Lord of the Rings.

5

War of the Rohirrim

Directed by Kenji Kamiyama

Kenji Kamiyama War of the Rohirrim It's far from being the best Lord of the Rings the franchise has to offer, but it's undoubtedly a fascinating entry into the franchise. While it's not the first Tolkien adaptation to be explored in animation, it is the first to utilize the anime style, offering a beautiful new lens on Middle-earth reminiscent of the Studio Ghibli films. Not to mention it is the first film in the franchise not to be based directly on a Tolkien bookwith War of the Rohirrim story from the appendices of The Return of the King.

War of the Rohirrim embraces the fundamentals of a Tolkien story, but fails in one important aspect that even The Hobbit the films got it right sometimes: characters. Héra is an inspiring protagonist, but her constant success in every idea and action she takes makes her less charming than those who preceded her. Opposite her is Wulf, a despicable but predictable antagonist. War of the Rohirrim It's far from being bad and its visuals are still awe-inspiring and offer a thrilling return to Middle-earth, but they simply don't have the substance to match what's to come.

4

An unexpected journey

Directed by Peter Jackson

However An unexpected journey attracted a mixed response upon release, its fortunes hampered by the unenviable task of directly following the work of Peter Jackson The Lord of the Rings trilogy, while expectations were duly lowered before The Hobbittwo sequences. In retrospect, there are probably more things to love about Bilbo Baggins' first foray. Martin Freeman gets his best chance to shine as Frodo's ring-bearing uncle, and soon The interactions between the disgruntled Hobbit and 13 equally disgruntled dwarves (with Gandalf as referee) are among the best scenes in the entire series. Hobbit trilogy.

The Shire material is only surpassed by Bilbo's fateful encounter with Gollum in the Misty Mountainsin which the Hobbit acquires the One Ring and plays a game of charades with his permanently crouched friend. Their exchange is one of the few precious scenes in The Hobbit which comes close to emulating Tolkien's tone and spirit. Although Bilbo Baggins's journey may have been unexpected, the enormous gulf between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings' back catalog was highly anticipated.

The high frame rate and overcompensation of the CGI drown out any realism of Middle-earth, and it's obvious from the start that Peter Jackson is reserving his best cards for the sequels. Azog isn't especially compelling or authentic as a villainand there's an overwhelming feeling The Hobbit conforms to Hollywood conventions much more than The Lord of the Rings. Even so, An unexpected journey is where the central story of Bilbo and Thorin has a chance to breathe.

3

The Two Towers

Directed by Peter Jackson

It will come as no surprise that Lord of the RingsThe top spots in the film rankings are dominated by Peter Jackson's 2000s trilogy. The era-defining spectacles may have upset Tolkien purists, but for many, they successfully balance literary fidelity and cinematic practicality to produce a mainstream trilogy that doesn't shy away from intricate detail or fantasy splendor. Neither the animations of the 1970s/1980s nor those of Jackson Hobbit movies come close. In truth, there is little separation The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King.

Each entry is wonderful and innovative in its own right, with only minute details standing out over one another. As an intermediate chapter, The Two Towers works infinitely better than The Desolation of Smaugand even though the ending feels inevitably incomplete, the lack of resolution is made up for by the 2002 film's many strengths. Chief among these is the Battle of Helm's Deep – something that had never been seen on screen before.

Due to its scale and ambition, the rain-soaked battle between Saruman's Uruk-hai and Rohan's forces (supplemented by elves, strangely) is worth the price of admission alone and presents strong arguments for being the biggest scrap in the franchise. Elsewhere, Gandalf the White's glorious, otherworldly debut doesn't lose impact in its predictability, while Saruman, Merry and Pippin have more time in the spotlight. Christopher Lee's presence is especially vital to The Two Towers'winning formula.

2

The Return of the King (2003)

Directed by Peter Jackson

If box office and Oscar wins are anything to go by, the 2003 film The Return of the King marks the height of Peter Jackson's triumph in Middle Earth. Realizing that his final chapter would require a breakthrough to match the ambition of Tolkien's ending, Jackson turned all the knobs to 11 for the finale. The procession of heart-stopping battles is packed with more than enough character moments to ensure that the narrative substance doesn't get lost in the steely confusion (the same can be said of The Battle of the Five Armies?), and Jackson leaves the best for last in terms of spectacle.

Giant elephants, zombie ghosts and witch kings melt in a boiling cauldron of adrenaline and heart. Elsewhere, Frodo and Sam's more intimate journey through Mordor brings an emotional balance to the combat – again, something the Hobbit the end of the trilogy was desperately missing. The Return of the King It's a true feat of filmmaking that, without a doubt, has yet to be equaled.

The 200-minute walk finds a satisfying (although uncomfortable for the buttocks) destination and each character receives a fitting farewell. Jackson may cut large chunks of material from Tolkien's ending (the County Clearing, for example), but the director's reasons for doing so are obvious and understandable. Technically speaking, The Return of the King might just be the best THE Lord of the Rings adventure put on film.

1

The Fellowship of the Ring

Directed by Peter Jackson

2001 The Fellowship of the Ring may not be Peter Jackson's greatest Lord of the Rings film, nor the most technically accomplished or innovative. For our money, however, The Fellowship of the Ring is a Hobbit – apparently humble in appearance, but hiding within himself a great heart and courage. Relatively low-key compared to later installments, The Fellowship of the Ring It's light on battles, but heavier on dramataking its time introducing the Fellowship and other key players while at the same time building bricks of live-action Middle-earth by Kiwi Bricks.

Slower-paced and considerably more rural than The Two Towers and Return of the King, The Fellowship of the Ring That's why the whole world fell in love with Elijah Wood's Frodo, Ian McKellen's Gandalf, Viggo Mortensen's Aragorn, and, most important of all, JRR Tolkien's world. The Fellowship of the RingThe only proper failure is to end on such an open and unresolved note. This is intentional, of course, and a quality carried over from Tolkien's original novels.

As an adaptation, it is difficult to see where The Fellowship of the Ring could do better. Pperfect cast, balanced tone and tempo, soundtrack by Howard Shore, expert visualsand… The Lord of the Rings was considered unfilmable for so long, but The Fellowship of the Ring creates a fantasy world that not only feels tangible and complete, but also avoids the stereotypes so often associated with the genre. Of all the film adaptations forged in The Lord of the Rings'image, The Fellowship of the Ring is the one who governs them all.