The Return of the King (1980) on Netflix
NR19801h 38mActionAdventureAnimation
Frodo and Samwise carry the Ruling Ring across Mordor, hoping to destroy it in Mount Doom. While they travel, Gandalf and the others battle Sauron's forces at Minas Tirith.
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- IMDb5.7/105,650 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes67%
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Plot summary
At Bilbo Baggins's 129th birthday party in Rivendell, Frodo recounts how he lost a finger, and the Minstrel of Gondor performs a ballad recounting the quest to destroy the One Ring. Meanwhile, in Mordor, Samwise Gamgee holds the Ring while Frodo is captive in Cirith Ungol. Samwise resists its pull, frees Frodo, and the two hobbits set out for Mount Doom to unmake the Ring. They elude Ringwraiths and infiltrate an Orc battalion as they travel. In Minas Tirith, Gandalf and Pippin Took warn Denethor of the coming war, but Sauron appears to hold the advantage while the Ring threatens to corrupt those who bear it.
Cast
- Nellie Bellfloweras Eowyn / Dernhelm (voice)
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Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Return of the King (1980)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film is often mistaken for a sequel to Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated The Lord of the Rings. After Rankin/Bass became defunct in 1987, Warner Bros. marketed it and The Hobbit as installments of an animated Tolkien trilogy, with Bakshi's film acting as the middle chapter.
- Director Arthur Rankin Jr. later admitted the film wasn't very good, explaining that cramming Tolkien's final volume plus a summary of the earlier books into two hours was simply too much material, and comparing his struggle to adapt faithfully to the challenges Peter Jackson later faced.
- Before release the film was threatened by a lawsuit from the Tolkien Estate and Fantasy Films, on the basis that Rankin/Bass had not secured the U.S. and Canadian television rights to J. R. R. Tolkien's book; it was settled "amicably", allowing the May 1980 release to proceed.
- Asked why Rankin/Bass adapted only The Return of the King rather than the full trilogy, director Arthur Rankin Jr. admitted he doubted audiences would sit through a complete Lord of the Rings adaptation, and later acknowledged he had been wrong.
- Rankin/Bass stalwart Paul Frees took over as the voice of Elrond, replacing the late Cyril Ritchard, who had died before this production was made.
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