History YMMV / TheReturnOfTheKing

* WhatTheHellCastingAgency:

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Frodo using the Ring to throw Gollum off of him while on the slopes of Mount Doom.
-->'''Frodo:''' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zM15SZi0nA Begone and trouble me no more! You touch me ever again, you shall be cast yourself into the fire of Doom!]]

* UglyCute: The peaceful orcs in the "Leave Tomorrow till it Comes" sequence. One of them even smiles and waves to Sam and Frodo.

* AwesomeMusic: The [[https://youtu.be/xBJHmesNz8Q entire soundtrack]], as performed by Glenn Yarbrough, and written by Jules Bass & Maury Laws.

* NoProblemWithLicensedGames: The Creator/ElectronicArts videogame is based on the live-action film, which had been released shortly after. It was received with much praise as an EvenBetterSequel to the one for ''The Two Towers'': the levels are huge, the paths are not linear, the characters have some limited interaction with the scenery, there are no glaring bugs, the expanded story fits perfectly well with the plot and style of the original material, etc.

** The Witch-King's voice. Imagine watching this scene without any prior knowledge about how Skeletor sounds. [[VoiceOfTheLegion A harsh, mechanical grate grinding out in conjunction with a manic, high-pitched squeaky voice]]. The overall effect somewhere between Darth Vader and Judge Doom. Then again, if the viewer ''is'' familiar with Skeletor, the scene can become downright hilarious.

** ''Creator/RoddyMcDowall'' as Samwise Gamgee!? Roddy was a fine character actor but the played Samwise with his usual posh voice instead of a more working-class accent one would accept from a humble gardener.

* {{Sequelitis}}: Generally considered to be not as good as ''WesternAnimation/TheHobbit'', which was a decent AdaptationDistillation of a much shorter book while this comes more off as a CompressedAdaptation of one of three books. Also the original folk-y songs fit ''The Hobbit'' better since it was a children's book to begin with, while this was based on a more epic work.

* {{Sequelitis}}: Generally considered to be not as good as ''WesternAnimation/TheHobbit''.

* AssPull: Éowyn appears out of nowhere with no prior set up to bump off the Witch-King and then vanishes completely with only a brief appearance at the end.

* DesignatedHero: Aragorn, due to the [[CompressedAdaptation compression.]] Apparently he was just off doing his own thing with nothing to do with the rest of the heroes until he arrives with his army at the Siege of Gondor. But here the Orcs are already in full retreat after the Witch-king's death, making it less like TheCavalry and more like mopping-up. Even afterwards, there's nothing to indicate he was ever part of a Fellowship with them. He's rude to Gandalf, sneering at him while taunting him over his reluctance to march on Mordor, a move motivated not to buy time for Frodo but because he thinks they have Sauron on the run. He's also needlessly rude to the Mouth of Sauron, who doesn't taunt them about Frodo's supposed capture and actually acts like a proper herald. And despite barely doing anything to help, almost getting his army killed and being a rude prick, he's still celebrated as the savior at the end without ever acknowledging or even noticing Frodo and the hobbits. Very different from the more heroic Peter Jackson version, let alone the one from the books, to be sure.

* NoProblemWithLicensedGames: The videogame is based on the film, which had been released shortly after. It was received with much praise: the levels are huge, the paths are not linear, the characters have some limited interaction with the scenery, there are no glaring bugs, the expanded story fits perfectly well with the plot and style of the original material, etc.

* WhatTheHellCastingAgency: ''Creator/RoddyMcDowall'' as Samwise Gamgee!? Roddy was a fine character actor but the played Samwise with his usual posh voice instead of a more working-class accent one would accept from a humble gardener.

* DesignatedHero: Aragorn. Apparently he was just off doing his own thing with nothing to do with the rest of the party, and doesn't even help in the Siege of Gondor as the Orcs were already retreating by the time he arrived. He's rude to Gandalf, sneering at him while taunting him over his reluctance to march on Mordor, a move motivated not to buy time for Frodo but because he thinks they have Sauron on the run. And despite doing nothing to help, almost getting his army killed and being a rude prick, he's still celebrated as the savior at the end. Very different from the more heroic Peter Jackson version, let alone the one from the books, to be sure.

* DesignatedHero: Aragorn. Apparently he was just off doing his own thing with nothing to do with the rest of the party, and doesn't even help in the Siege of Gondor as the Orcs were already retreating by the time he arrived. He's rude to Gandalf, sneering at him while taunting him over his reluctance to march on Mordor, a move motivated not to buy time for Frodo but because he thinks they have Sauron on the run. And despite doing nothing to help, almost getting his army killed and being a rude prick, he's still celebrated as the savior at the end. Very different from the more heroic Peter Jackson version, to be sure.

* WhatTheHellCastingAgency: Creator/RoddyMcDowall'' as Samwise Gamgee!? Roddy was a fine character actor but the played Samwise with his usual posh voice instead of a more working-class accent one would accept from a humble gardener.

-->'''Frodo:''' Begone and trouble me no more! You touch me ever again, you shall be cast yourself into the fire of Doom!

* NoProblemWithLicensedGames: The videogame is based on the film, which had been released shortly after. It was received with much praise: the levels are huge, the paths are not lineal, the characters have some limited interaction with the scenery, there are no glaring bugs, the expanded story fits perfectly well with the plot and style of the original material, etc.

** The orcs' VillainSong "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdXQJS3Yv0Y Where There's a Whip, There's a Way]]" features the lyrics "We don't want to go to war today, but the lord of the land says nay nay nay!" Thirty-five years later, the rapper Silentó gave us the hit single "Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)."

*** Mr. Slate included, he sounds like ''[[WesternAnimation/TheTransformers Starscream!]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWjt6LGhHsI Watch here.]]

** The Witch-King's voice. Imagine watching this scene without any prior knowledge about how Skeletor sounds. [[VoiceOfTheLegion A harsh, mechanical grate grinding out in conjunction with a manic, high-pitched squeaky voice]]. The overall effect somewhere between Darth Vader and Judge Doom.

[[redirect:YMMV/TheLordOfTheRings]]

* CultClassic: Almost in spite of itself.