"Watched the Rankin and Bass "Hobbit" This weekend" Topic

I'm slowly introducing my kids to some of the movies I saw when I was younger. This weekend we saw The Hobbit Cartoon from the late 70s. My daughter (6 years old) was indifferent. I figured she would have loved the adventure as she loves fairies and other woodland magical creatures. My son (4 years old), really enjoyed the movie. He giggled every time one of the bad guys bought it. Not sure if that is a good thing! But, yesterday and this morning he pointed to the box and said, "Daddy, I really like this movie." Here's to hoping I get a built in gamer in the house.

You want to be careful there, the kid could just as easily wind up becoming a fantasy writer who crafts his own elaborate universe and spends his days writing epic poetry about fictional characters in languages he invented himself. That's great work if you're getting paid for it, but if you're not it's a ticket to the bughouse. :)

Best of luck to you! I started playing the old "Battlemasters" game with my daughters at this ages. If you can track down a copy it is well worth it.

They can crawl on the vinyl mat on the floor, and move the plastic units on the over-sized hexes. Shooting the cannon or moving the ogre always was great fun. And if they wander off after a couple of turns(mine never did), then that's ok too.

Daughters are now 10 and 13, and will still drop everything for a boardgame that has miniatures in it.

My friends and I put The Hobbit on recently and I was surprised how much I still enjoyed it after all these years.
I think part of it is the music and general sad fairy-tale air it has. The Rankin-Bass animation is clunky but nice designs and colors.
I was the only one who managed to stay awake through it though… and when I mentioned it to my gaming group the next day they all made wretching noises and complained about how it 'sucked'. Whatever.

I still enjoy it and my three kids 10,6, and 2.5 all enjoy watching it as well.

I can understand your daughter's indifference— there's not a female character to be had in either the book or the film. So for a six-year-old girl, there's no one to relate to.

For her, you might try Disney's Mulan, which features a take-charge young girl who becomes a soldier in her own right and is praised for her bravery, intelligence and actions. I'm also looking forward to Pixar's Brave, which appears to have a similar theme. And don't forget The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with Lucy depicted as one of the strongest characters in the tale. Might be a bit much as a film for their ages, though. The White Witch and her beasts are very frightening, and the death of Aslan could be confusing and traumatic to younger viewers, regardless of what one thinks of the underlying message.

Other similar take-charge females are of course Belle in Beauty and the Beast and Jasmine in Aladdin. The latter does have a "rescue me" moment for the hero, of course, but she also acts on her own as well.

If you've no objections to some of the clearly adult moments in Shrek, that might not be bad. I suspect most of the mildly objectionable references will be over kids' heads. As it is, Fiona is clearly an "anti-princess" princess, literally kicking butt on her own.

For read-to-me stories, consider The Gammage Cup, which is very hobbit-like in its characters and tone, but includes strong female characters. Your four-year-old may squirm out of your lap at the length of the tale, but the girl will love it.

And when she's a little older, don't forget Harry Potter. It may not be your cuppa, but the character of Hermione is terrific— intelligent, logical, thoughtful and heroic in her own right.

Remember that Rankin Bass also did a "Return of the King" which was pretty good too.

I need to watch that. At first I thought I had seen it at the theater when I was a kid, but I think that was more likely the Bakshi LotR. I know I've never seen the Rankin-Bass RotK. More things for the Netflix queue.

Doug

My friends and I put The Hobbit on recently and I was surprised how much I still enjoyed it after all these years.

I enjoyed it as well even as an adult. Maybe will play Return of the King next…but I have to watch that one first. They may not "get" the story.

The Bakshi film was OK but kind of violent by comparison.

Saw this again a few years ago. I am not a fan…. although some of the images have stuck with me since I was very young. Indeed, the background art is fantastic in its own right, especially Mirkwood and the mountains/caverns. The music stuck too, for better or worse.

The scene where Bilbo climbs to the roof of Mirkwood and watches the butterflies is still poetic and haunting. Expect a lot more decapitations in the upcoming live action films. . .

The White Witch and her beasts are very frightening

I must be tired, because Freud made this sentence a lot funnier.

I must be tired, because Freud made this sentence a lot funnier.

Don't worry, I read it exactly the same. Until I came to your message and saw what was actually said, I was making plans to see the movie again. Obviously I had missed something…

Damon.

I watched it several weeks ago as research for my Round 5 Lead Painter League entry. I hadn't seen the Rankin Bass Hobbit in 20 years- and I enjoyed it more as an adult. I think I read the book about a week before.

Some people don't have an inner child… feel sorry for them :)

I've always liked the Rankin-Bass "Hobbit". The music and voice acting are very effective, and the animation is OK if certainly not classic Disney quality.

Watched the Rankin and Bass "Return of the King". It is a more confused story, partly because it is trying to wrap up the Backshi "LotR" and partly it is trying to cram the first two books into a short exposition. It also has some nice scenes but largely it was not as good as the Hobbit. For the music, it does have the best song in both series. "Where there's a whip, there's a way!"

I like the Hobbit. Music was great. The dwarfs were just like I imagined them. Plus the dragons voice was super, Richard Boone if I remember right.

My similarly aged children had a similar reactions to The Hobbit. The 7 year old read the book, but without the enthusiasm I recall at the same age.

when my girls were little, I would read The Hobbit to them at night before bed. we'd get in about 5-10 pages a night before they'd get too sleepy. they really enjoyed it and still remember the time spent together (though perhaps not the story) fondly.
my 24 year old recently started playing wargames with me and my friends. she likes zombie games a lot but is really jonesing to play Lord of the Rings. Wants me to run a Battle of 5 Armies game for her and her friends (boyfriend is an avid Xbox gamer). Just have to finish painting all those goblins first … (sigh)

This song here. YouTube link

Then there is always this song…
YouTube link

To Nemoy's defense you can say that it IS better than Shatner's Mr. Tambourine man!