Ralph Bakshi criticizes Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films

Animator Ralph Bakshi has expressed strong criticisms regarding Peter Jackson’s live-action 'The Lord of the Rings' film trilogy. Bakshi, who directed the 1978 animated adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s work, has maintained that Jackson’s interpretation owes a creative debt to his own cinematic vision.

Bakshi noted that his motivation for taking on the 1978 project was to save Tolkien’s work after it had been nearly ruined by producers and writers who lacked respect for the source material. While Jackson’s trilogy is widely considered the definitive adaptation, Bakshi remains a vocal critic of the New Zealand director's approach to Middle-earth.