Product: The Hobbit [VHS] (1977)
Rating: 1.0
The Hobbit (1977) DVD - Absolutely TERRIBLE picture quality!!
I have never written a review here on Amazon, though I've been a very frequent customer for many years. My point is that I felt so inclined to finally do so in order to warn everyone else from purchasing this DVD, especially with The Hobbit's popularity sure to rise with Peter Jackson's upcoming film. This was a cartoon I grew up with, and watched rather religiously on VHS. Unlike other reviewers, I found the sound to be fine; that's not where my problem lies. The picture quality, as my title makes clear, is incredibly miserable... All of the original artwork, created to resemble legendary illustrator Arthur Rackham's watercolor pieces, is completely washed out and muddied. There are scenes so incredibly mute or dark that you literally cannot make out what is happening. Other scenes (most in fact) appear to hold a terrible foggy look, or the colors bleed into others everywhere. Very few scenes remain true to the original cut. Even the hand-drawn lines of the characters and environments look to have been very poorly transitioned digitally, leaving them with a low resolution appearance... Any fans of Tolkien, this film, or animation in general would do well to steer clear of this thing! I really hate to say it, as it's a wonderful piece of Hobbit history, but do yourself a favor and wait for a proper restoration! It may only be $10, but it really is as bad as it sounds, and seems to be a hasty release to cash in on the holiday season, and the release of Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. You've been warned!