The Lord of the Rings

Disney first held the rights to Tolkien's epic in the late '50s, so it's surprising that we had to wait so long, particularly since Kubrick and Boorman both tried unsuccessfully to set up productions. Mercifully, the book has escaped the typical Disney demolition; Bakshi's version, using animation and live-action tracings, is uniformly excellent, sticking closely to the original text and visually echoing many of Tolkien's own drawings. Use of British voices, together with the sensitive Leonard Rosenman sound-track, augments the impression of authenticity; and Bakshi wisely chose to leave Vol. 3 for a later date, which allows him to avoid simplification to the point of superficiality.