Product: The Hobbit [VHS] (1977)
Rating: 3.0
4 stars for the movie, 2 stars for the DVD
First, this is a very good, simplified, child-friendly version of The Hobbit. That's not to say that it's dumbed down, it's just not too scary. Overall, it's a very good adaptation that covers the high points without too many quibbles about what was left out.There are a few things I don't like about this version: the wood elves look like The Grinch (which makes no sense, given what they look like in LOTR), the Elf King has a heavy Germanic accent (which is just an odd choice, but none of the other elves show this trait), Smaug's head looks like a cat head more than a dragon, and I'm not a fan of the voice used for Smaug. I can't recall the actor, but a British actor would've suited him better, IMO. The music, overall, is pretty good, but it's very dated. When I say "pretty good" I mean that it's something from my childhood, so I'm probably more tolerant of it than others might be, but the tunes run the gamut from sappy/cheesey ballads to light 70s disco funk. Your mileage may vary.Now, for the DVD. There are several places where the sound & video skips...SKIPS!...and parts of lines are either repeated or missed. This is obviously inexcusable. I don't care how much they're charging for this, how hard is it to PAY ATTENTION when you're making a video transfer? I also had the record set of this story when I was a kid, but I don't recall the difference in sound effects that other reviews are mentioning. Overall it's a pretty shoddy effort, as far as a video transfer. WB should really be ashamed of themselves.