History Narm / TheLordOfTheRings

* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kylnv0eTsGc The Unscary Balrog]]'' While some of the rotoscoped aspects, such as the Ringwraiths, their horses, and even some of the orcs, do portray them as very ominous and unnatural, the Eldritch Abomination from the books that struck fear and dread into Gandalf is a hilariously bad lion costume, with butterfly wings[[note]]Which also makes it a mystery why it doesn't just fly back up after the bridge is destroyed.[[/note]] and fuzzy boots. And it looked really unconvincing even back then; there are many other older animated film monster and demon designs, [[WesternAnimation/Fantasia even one]] from the ''1940s'' that looked a ''whole'' lot better than this live action rotoscoped catastrophe. Remember, they could have easily used conventional animation at any time during the production.

* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kylnv0eTsGc The Unscary Balrog]]'' While some of the rotoscoped aspects, such as the Ringwraiths, their horses, and even some of the orcs, do portray them as very ominous and unnatural, the Eldritch Abomination from the books that struck fear and dread into Gandalf is a hilariously bad lion costume, with butterfly wings[[note]]Which also makes it a mystery why it doesn't just fly back up after the bridge is destroyed.[[/note]] and fuzzy boots. And it looked really unconvincing even back then; there are many other animated film monster and demon designs, even one from the ''1940s'' that looked better than this live action rotoscoped catastrophe. Remember, they could have easily used conventional animation at any time during the production.

** When Deagol picks up the One Ring, he used his whole hand and took ''lots'' of dirt from the bottom of the river than he logically should have - he's only attracted by the Ring there, why wouldn't he just use two fingers to pick it, instead?
** Smeagol's voice already sounded like his voice when he became Gollum, despite previous films implied his deranged and childish voice was the result of corruption and deformation from One Ring. It just looks really weird to see Creator/AndySerkis as a relatively normal-looking Hobbit [[VocalDissonance speak like that]] and it kinda ruins the dramatic value of his StartOfDarkness.

* The prologue's depiction of the battle that concluded the Second Age. We've got silhouettes of warriors doing battle set against a blood-red background, which is a fairly solid artistic choice. Too bad it's completely wasted as the actors lazily swing their swords and give each other love-taps. When Isildur delivers the coup de grace on "Sore-on", the Dark Lord yanks his hand away as if he'd just broken a nail. Peter Jackson didn't come soon enough.

* Hey, Samwise, what do you think about your portrayal in this adaptation?
-->'''Sam:''' "Oh, ''my''. Oh, HOO-''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpjyNIoJ0V4 RAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY!!]]''"
** Samwise in general. Seeing the simple yet honest and fiercely loyal BadassNormal of Tolkien's books reduced to a buck-toothed country bumpkin who looks like a potato is at once both very funny and very sad.
** Bakshi reportedly intended to have him develop into the heroic character from the books in the second film, which of course was never actually made, leaving us stuck with this version.

* Legolas's face when he's first introduced is supposed to be showing him beaming at finding his friends after days of searching, but the actual face he makes looks him look like he's high.

* The Nazgûl initially look scary; but once they dismount, they shuffle around moaning as if they suffer from severe arthritis.
* In the same scene, when Gandalf falls from the bridge, it looks more than anything like the animators didn't bother to actually animate him and instead just took his previous standing cel and turned/moved it slightly relative to the background. This is ''really'' obvious in the photobook, which chose to illustrate this with a frame that looks like one of those rub-on transfer books done by a kid who didn't quite get the transfer lined up properly.
* The magnificent Treebeard, which, also, [[http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a341/akinna13/ahhhh.jpg must be seen to be believed.]]

* Legolas looks [[http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9u3x1btJ61qk8gvx.gif like he has Down's syndrome]]. Sam also looks mentally challenged in some unspecified way, though since he also ''acts'' mentally challenged it isn't quite as jarring.
* Oh, hell, if you want to see ''all'' the Narm-iest moments (except for the Balrog), just look at [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee5zcGC4NIg this video]]. Note the appropriate music choice.
* Aragorn looks like a Native American for some reason, Pippin looks like a junkie and Eowyn (who is only shown very briefly) looks like a tired 40-year-old housewife.
* They forget that Saruman spells his name with an S halfway through.
** That was ExecutiveMeddling due to the presumption that ViewersAreMorons. Are you ready for this? They thought that people wouldn't be able to tell the difference between Sauron and Saruman. They both started with the syllable "Sa(u)r," after all. So they cut the letter S from Saruman, making half the film about stopping Aruman's (or, as some characters pronounce it, "arrow man"'s) evil plot. The only problem was, they weren't consistent. It might have worked if the S hadn't crept back in.
* Near the end, there's a brief genuinely effective dramatic moment as Frodo wistfully looks forward to ending the quest, and wonders if he'll ever be able to have a normal life afterwards. Then Sam responds by walking off and whistling.
* When Gandalf shows up at Frodo's doorstep earlier in the movie, Frodo starts jumping around and flailing his arms like some sort of {{fangirl}} at a concert.
* The entire scene at ''The Prancing Pony''. Between the {{rotoscoping}}, the LargeHam innkeeper and all the hammy extras playing the clients gleefully ChewingTheScenery, get ready for a few minutes of awkward unintentional humour.

* Gandalf's dramatic return as Gandalf the White is the one scene where the actor's MilkingTheGiantCow performance actually could have worked. Unfortunately, it's still ruined by his cape getting briefly stuck over his face, which somehow none of the animators saw fit to simply not trace over.
* Apparently Bakshi thought we couldn't possibly grasp the concept of several years passing between Bilbo leaving the Shire and Gandalf's return without a seizure-inducing montage of split-second shots of various seasons.
* [[https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5qUbq52d1J4/Uooani5NjoI/AAAAAAAABKw/ScKkyiJ70S8/s1600/lotr+aragorn+jackie.JPG Aragorn's belt buckle]]. It's the size of his ''face'', for cryin' out loud. Is he trying to distract us from his lack of pants? How does he sit down with that thing?

* [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment "Praise them with great praise!"]]
* Tolkien's archaic writing style lends itself to narm, especially for modern audiences. In particular, the books as a whole are a major victim of HavingAGayOldTime, due to Tolkien being very fond of the words "queer" and "weed". So you get passages like how Bilbo was always very queer from when he was young, and after he went off with a bunch of dwarves, he became even queerer in the eyes of the Shire.

** The sentence does sound somewhat silly in itself.
* "Then late in the afternoon in the third day of their moot, the Ents suddenly blew up". Taken literally, and you can imagine Creator/JohnCleese narrating "[[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus And here is the Ent who told us where they were... *BOOM*... and this is where he lived. *BOOM*]]" . Alternatively, the Bender clones exploding at the end of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': "[[Recap/FuturamaM1BendersBigScore Bender's Big Score]]".

** The original context can probably be taken to mean that the robe shimmered as he moved. For some reason, Turbine decided to interpret it as ''Saruman's robe literally changing colours on its own''.

* Tolkien's archaic writing style lends itself to narm, especially for modern audiences.

* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kylnv0eTsGc The Unscary Balrog]]'' While some of the rotoscoped aspects, such as the Ringwraiths, their horses, and even some of the orcs, do portray them as very ominous and unnatural, the Eldritch Abomination from the books that struck fear and dread into Gandalf is a hilariously bad lion costume, with butterfly wings and fuzzy boots. And it looked really unconvincing even back then; there are many other animated film monster and demon designs, even one from the ''1940s'' that looked better than this live action rotoscoped catastrophe. Remember, they could have easily used conventional animation at any time during the production.

* Creator/LivTyler went out of her way to lower the range of her voice to give Arwen a sense of age and authority. It mostly works, but it's also clear that she wasn't able to read some of her lines in a deeper voice and whispers them instead, something the other elven characters don't do. What's even funnier is that according to the Extended Edition appendices, when [[Music/{{Aerosmith}} her father]] saw ''Fellowship'' for the first time, he had no idea she'd even done anything to her voice!

* Liv Tyler whispering every line of her dialogue. None of the other elves felt it necessary to whisper.

* The Nazgûl kick down the wooden wall to get into Bree, and the guy who is behind the wall somehow manages to get smashed completely flat. As in, the wall ends up completely flat on the ground, with no indication that there is a body underneath it.

* Certain lines, especially "Let's hunt some Orc", "Nobody tosses a dwarf!" and the all-too-obvious [[TitleDrop title drops]]. Not to mention how Jackson worked in some rather ham-fisted allusions to the book's ''chapter titles''. "It was only a detour. A shortcut!" "A shortcut to what?" "Mushrooms!"

--> '''Galadriel''': It was in this noment, when all hope had faded, that Isildur, son of the king, took up his father's sword.

** [[spoiler: Denethor's death scene.]] Gandalf lays the beatdown on him with his staff, Shadowfax kicks him in the head right onto his son's funeral pyre, and ''then'' he catches fire and runs all the way into the courtyard, through the garden (which looks like a helipad from the top down), and ''off the cliff of Minas Tirith''.
*** [[NarmCharm Best part of the movie]].
*** What makes it worse/better is the cliff is a good 50-to-100 metres from the nearest building, leading to {{Fridge|Logic}} Narm when you realise [[spoiler:Denethor]] must be quite the athlete as he did the 100 metre sprint, wearing armour and on ''fire'' during the cut between locations.
*** Bonus Narm for those who recall the parallel scene from the book. Gandalf speaks the same line in both - "So passes [[spoiler: Denethor, son of Ecthelion]]". The film version has him passing in a literal "Keep to the left" sense. (Arguably, this delivery seems like it was done on purpose.)

** Saruman making Gandalf telekinetically spin on his shoulder on the ground, for no apparent reason, before launching him up the tower's stairwell. If there were any piece of drama left in the duel, that should have killed it dead.

* Gimli's reaction to seeing [[spoiler: Balin's tomb]]. In the book, he merely puts a hood over his face to hide his tears. In the movie, he sobs vociferously like a wino for what seems like several minutes.

* Galadriel's rant when she is tempted by the Ring. For some, NightmareFuel of the High Octane variety. For others it can be cringeworthy. Galadriel on a whole can come off this way. Creator/CateBlanchett is attempting ethereal and somewhat inhuman... it can easily come off as if she's just really really stoned and looking at Frodo like an extra-large bag of Cheetos.

* The heck was with [[spoiler: Denethor]] running a whole mile while on fire just so he can go over the edge?

* The scene in which Bilbo is tempted to take back the ring at Rivendell. His awkward movements make it look like he's having a seizure.

** The battle bbegins with Saruman suddenly bellowing in rage in reply to an accusation of insanity by Gandalf. Not only it is silly, it also makes it look like a LameComeback, as if Saruman had really no answer for such a cliche and just attacked him.

* '''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY4V3UUY95A Looks like meat's back on the menu, boys!]]'''

* When Gandalf shows up at Frodo's doorstep earlier in the movie, Frodo starts jumping around and flailing his arms like some sort of fangirl at a concert.

** For starters, it begins with Saruman suddenly bellowing in rage in reply to an accusation of insanity by Gandalf. Not only it is silly, it also makes it look like a LameComeback, as if Saruman had really no answer for such a cliche and just attacked him.

* Galadriel's rant when she is tempted by the Ring. For some, NightmareFuel of the High Octane variety. For others it can be cringeworthy. Galadriel on a whole can come off this way. Creator/CateBlanchett is attempting ethereal and somewhat inhuman... it can easily come off as if she's just really really stoned and looking at Frodo like an extra-large bag of Cheetos.
* The heck was with [[spoiler: Denethor]] running a whole mile while on fire just so he can go over the edge?

* Possessed Theoden laughing. "Hurr hurr hurr" is possibly the least intimidating way to laugh.
* Gimli's reaction to seeing [[spoiler: Balin's tomb]]. In the book, he merely puts a hood over his face. In the movie, he sobs like a wino for what seems like several minutes.

* Sauron's depiction as a literal flaming eye on top of Barad-dûr. In the book, Sauron was stated to still be a humanoid, and "Eye of Sauron" was just a metaphor for his power; Creator/PeterJackson's decision to basically turn Sauron into a big, scary lighthouse has been met with some derision. ''Film/TheHobbit'' films seem to address this by indicating that Sauron's humanoid form is actually contained within the eye's pupil.

* The Orc runner who carries the torch to set off the charges that breach Helm's Deep. For one thing he's completely shirtless and running down a trench of cheering, roaring Orcs. It'd be like some kind of twisted version of the Olympics if it weren't so ridiculous.
* The Extended Edition reveals that the Dead Men's first answer to Aragorn's summons was an avalanche of skulls. Apparently they had been piling them up for just such an occasion??
** Shortly followed by another scene (thankfully also deleted from the theatrical release) where Aragorn and friends make it out of the mountain. The emotion swells, Aragorn collapses to his knees in despair... only to reveal an extremely dull shot of the King of the Dead striding through the wall, blandly stating "We fight." Which makes you wonder why he tried to murder the trio a minute ago.
* Sam being inspired to go back to save Frodo by finding the lembas bread Gollum had thrown off the mountain. It's like he was somehow convinced that he really did eat it.
* Pippin's line "We are sitting on a field of victory," due to the huge hunk of bread in his mouth combining with his Scottish accent to make it sound like he's saying "We are shitting," which actually kind of fits the situation too. {{Podcast/Rifftrax}} notably completely ran with this.
* [[TheCorruption Frodo's giving into the power of the Ring at Mount Doom]] is a sight to despair at. But it also looks like he's [[https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/c8/58/81/c85881587e950782c820ba941c00e299.gif leering at Sam while making a hand gesture implying intercourse]].

* Frodo's [[http://cdn-static.denofgeek.com/sites/denofgeek/files/3/52//hl17.jpg expression]] when he gets stung by Shelob can be NightmareRetardant for some.
** Also, in the first film, his face when he gets impaled by the cave-troll. Especially because he's not even ''remotely'' injured thanks to his Mithril vest. You can't help but get the feeling that he's just overreacting, or he thought he's gonna die, unaware of how resilient the Mithril vest truly is.

* The Battle of the Last Alliance seems to impede the capability of Elendil's kin of articulate speech:
--> '''Galadriel''': ''Victory was near...''
--> '''Elendil''': RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

--> '''Galadriel''': It was in this noment, when all hope had faded, that Isildur, son of the king, took up his father's sword.
--> '''Isildur''': NRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
* In the Battle of Morannon, Aragorn was supposed to be fighting Sauron in person (as the dramatic buildup indicated), but this was scrapped. Instead, he spent the most climactic battle getting stepped on by a giant troll that he stabbed in the foot.
* Aragorn showing himself to Sauron through the Palantir, holding the restored sword of Elendil, looks like he's just trying to take a cool selfie. To be fair, the scene in the book wasn't much better.
** He holds the Palantir with one hand to show himself to Sauron while smirking looks like he's taking an edgy selfie. Seeing as the Palantir was a direct link to Sauron, the whole scene does look like an awkward video call.

** Samwise in general. Seeing the simple yet honest and fiercely loyal BadassNormal of Tolkien's books reduced to a buck-toothed country bumpkin is at once both very funny and very sad.

* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kylnv0eTsGc The Unscary Balrog]]'' While some of the rotoscoped aspects, such as the Ringwraiths, their horses, and even some of the orcs, do portray them as very ominous and unnatural, the Eldritch Abomination from the books that struck fear and dread into Gandalf is a hilariously bad lion costume, with butterfly wings and fuzzy boots. And it looked really unconvincing even back then; there are many other animated film monster and demon designs, even one from the ''1940s'' that looked better than this live action rotoscoped catastrophe.

* In the single most infamous scene of all, the Balrog (remember, they could have easily used conventional animation at any time during the production) is rotoscoped from footage of a man in a cheap bear costume with ''fairy wings'' who appears to be wearing fluffy slippers.