A showcase for inspired imagery and sheer strangeness, a near-miss magnum opus from another era, before the cult of Tolkien went Hollywood.
– Glenn Gaslin,
Slate,
24 Nov 2001
rotten:
Falls far short of the charm and sweep of the original story.
– Roger Ebert,
Chicago Sun-Times,
23 Oct 2004
fresh:
The film is visually compelling even when murk overtakes the narrative.
– Vincent Canby,
New York Times,
9 May 2005
rotten:
Quite simply, those who do not know the characters of Middle Earth going in will not know them coming out.
– Variety Staff,
Variety,
7 Jul 2010
rotten:
It looked terrible then and it still does: cartoon characters move differently from live actors, and the attempt to duplicate natural movement ends in stylistic incoherence.