Ranking the Middle Earth Franchise: From The Hobbit to The Lord of the Rings

With the release of The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, I wanted to share my thoughts and ranking of the Middle Earth films. This franchise consists of seven films and one TV show, Three Lord of the Rings films, Three Hobbit films, one animated film (technically there are three other animated movies, but those are outside the main continuity) and one TV show. I opted not to include the TV show as it is still going on. I didn't think it would be far to compare something without an ending to a bunch of movies that do. The Lord of the Rings is my favorite movie of all time with the entire franchise being one of the favorite franchises of all time. I love the fantasy aspect and the huge-scale battles and journeys. While some are better than others, I don't think there has been a bad addition to this franchise yet. With all that said, here are my thoughts and ranking of the seven Middle Earth films.

7. The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

The War of the Rohirrim is the newest addition to the Lord of the Rings franchise and the first animated installment. I like that this movie gives viewers a chance to return to Middle Earth and that we have a new story about Rohan. The action here was pretty exciting with a new big battle at Helms Deep. I also liked how the basic premise of the story was this coming-of-age hero's journey epic. We get to see the main character, Hera, grow into a great leader. I also appreciate how the movie tries to do something different with the franchise, bringing an anime style to the saga. However, this is also the biggest issue with the film. It is different but I think a lot of Lord of the Rings fans will have a hard time getting past the anime style. This movie also just feels so much smaller and cheaper than the other films. It was made for only $30 million and you can feel that. In the end, while I enjoyed this a good deal, it is ultimately dealt a tough hand with the inevitable comparison to the Lord of the Rings films. It was never going to be as good as the other films, nor was the filmmaker trying to do that, but because it has the name association, people are going to unintentionally compare it.

Score: 7/10 Grade: B

6. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

The Desolation of Smaug is the weakest of the live-action films. Out of all of the Hobbit films, this is the one that feels the most bloated while also feeling the most rushed. I still think this is a good movie. I like Smaug in this movie. While he is only present in the later half of the film, he still comes across as this intense and formidable villain. As a fan of the books, it was cool to see the back-and-forth between Bilbo and Smaug. This movie also has several solid action sequences with the battle with the spiders in the forest and the big barrel sequence. I also like the addition of Bard and his family. He adds a bit of an outsider's perspective to the dwarves ' quest. The big issue with this film, and the whole Hobbit series is that there is just so much filler. The movie adds this whole dwarf-elf love story subplot as well as a whole subplot about Gandalf's journey that doesn't need to be there. The movie tries hard to tie into the Lord of the Rings and you can feel it at the expense of the story. The original plan was to split the Hobbit into two parts and you can feel the most stretching into three parts in this movie. Overall, while I still love this movie, you can feel the bloated nature of the trilogy here.

Score: 7.5/10 Grade: B

5. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

The Battle of the Five Armies has many of the same strengths and weaknesses as The Desolation of Smaug. The action here is the biggest out of any of The Hobbit films. We get this big battle that takes up a majority of the film. This movie also does a great job of providing a lot of moments with characters like Bilbo and Thorin that payoff elements set up at the beginning of the film. This movie makes a little more sense to be expanded than the previous film as the Battle of the Five Armies only takes up 5 pages in the books as Bilbo is knocked unconscious and misses the whole thing which doesn't work in a movie. The biggest issue with this film is that it is extremely back-heavy. The movie doesn't stand very well as a singular film. The plot is nonexistent as the whole first part is about setting up this big battle which takes place in the later half. Much like the previous film, the movie also gets bogged down with a lot of subplots to fill out the run time. The whole arc with Thorin feels so out of place for his character and is only there to fill out the runtime. In the end, while it is a decent enough conclusion to The Hobbit Trilogy, this film and the previous one could have easily cut a lot out and combined into two films.

Score: 7.5/10 Grade: B

4. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

An Unexpected Journey is easily the best of the The Hobbit films. While it still contributes the bloating of a 300-page children's book to a 9-hour epic, this one feels the least stretched out. I thought that this movie had the best action sequences in the trilogy in the Goblin Town escape and treetop fight with the whole Goblin Town and Riddles in the Dark sequences being the best scenes in the series. This movie just brought the enjoyment of returning to Middle Earth again with familiar characters and a familiar style and setting. This movie also starts somewhat faithful to the books with the whole sequence at Bilbo's house being a lot of fun. Of course, the movie has similar issues of unnecessary plot points to fill out the run time. The movie also tries way too hard to recapture the epicness of The Lord of the Rings instead of just sticking with a quaint little adventure. This movie has a bit of an identity crisis about whether it wants to be a children's book or a large epic which eventually transforms into an epic in the later films. Overall, this is the strongest of the Hobbit trilogy and is still a film I greatly enjoy but it kind of loses the essence of what The Hobbit was supposed to be about.

Score: 8/10 Grade: B+

The top 3 films are all tied for first place as I view them as one movie but for the purposes of this ranking, I had to split them into their individual films.

3. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The Two Towers is a fantastic middle addition to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. The Battle of Helms Deep is the clear favorite of this movie as it is such an epic battle that up the entire second half of the movie. I find that this battle is one of the best in the franchise and probably movie history. The movie also does a great job of balancing the stories between characters. It has to balance three different plot lines and does so perfectly with each one getting an adequate amount of screen time. The timing of the transition between subplots is also well done as it never feels like any momentum is lost. The adventures at Rohan and Merry and Pippen's mission feel just as pivotal as Frodo and Sam's Journey. This movie also introduces the technical achievement that is Gollum with CGI so groundbreaking that it is still used today. In the end, this is a fantastic second installment of the story that doesn't stumble like other "in-between" films do.

Score: 10/10 Grade: A+

2. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

The Fellowship of the Ring does a great job of introducing us to this fantastical world and epic story. This movie had so much on its plate that needed to go right. It had to introduce a ton of characters, build out this world with all of these different races, introduce a formidable villain, and be good. Thankfully this movie managed to accomplish all of that. It gives adequate introductions to this vast array of characters with no characters feeling underdeveloped or useless. The movie also does a great job of showcasing the lifestyle of both the Hobbits and the Elves as we explore the lands of both races. Just like with the other films, this movie is never dull. It manages to deliver all of the important exposition to set up this compelling epic. I also thought the casting here was fantastic. Each actor was perfect for their respective characters and is forever associated with them. Overall, this is a great opening for the franchises that introduce this epic story without getting bogged down with heavy exposition or character introductions.

Score: 10/10 Grade: A+

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The Return of the King is the climactic finale to this perfect trilogy and obviously has to come in at number one. This is the most epic and satisfying film I have ever seen. There are multiple fantastic battles and so many moments that give me chills. I could just watch this movie over and over again. The movie manages to tie up all loose ends to the story and gives every character a satisfying ending. The movie is over 3 hours long and 20 minutes but it doesn't feel long or drag at all. The movie goes from one epic scene to the next with the final half being nonstop payoff. Every character gets their moment to shine. There are two amazing battles in this movie that are some of the best put to film. The score in this movie (and all of the trilogy) is just so epic and adds to the amazingness of the film. This film deserved every award that it got when it swept the Oscars. In the end, this is the perfect movie to end a perfect trilogy, and will always be my favorite movie of all time.

Score: 10/10 Grade: A+