The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy Blu-ray Movie Review

No extras? No problem.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III November 17, 2021

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Fellowship of the Ring's theatrical debut, Warner Bros. has issued remastered Blu-rays of all three films in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. These new discs are sourced from the same recent masters as 2020's 4K trilogy set and are also available in the 31-disc Middle Earth Ultimate Collector’s Edition, which combines the LotR and Hobbit trilogies on 4K and remastered Blu-ray. This entry-level option includes all three LotR theatrical cuts (with a few visual modifications) and... well, not much else. Hey, whaddya want? It's less than $20.

For an overview of all three films in this collection (not that you need one at this point), please read former Blu-ray.com writer Kenneth Brown's review of the Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy, originally released in 2010.

The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

For an overview of the new 1080p transfers on these remastered theatrical Blu-rays, please see my comments in the Middle Earth Ultimate Collector's Edition (trust me, they're in there somewhere). Overall, I found these transfers to be decent to moderate upgrades over the previous Blu-ray editions, with the caveat that they suffer from the same (and occasionally excessive) use of digital noise reduction as their 4K counterparts. Additionally, some of the color grading is different from the previous Blu-rays and DVDs, and the flashbacks from The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers are heavily desaturated to match the more black-and-white aesthetic of scenes from the Hobbit films.'

NOTE: These 15 screenshots are sourced from the remastered Blu-rays. For more, please see my separate reviews of the Extended Edition Remastered Blu-ray set and the Middle Earth Ultimate Collector's Edition.

The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Since these remastered theatrical Blu-rays include the same new Dolby Atmos mixes as their 4K counterparts, separate evaluations of each one can be found at the reviews linked below. (For those without fancy Dolby Atmos setups, you'll be glad to know these tracks automatically fold down to Dolby TrueHD 7.1.) Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

The Fellowship of the Ring Theatrical Cut

The Two Towers Theatrical Cut

The Return of the King Theatrical Cut

A wide array of subtitle options, including English (SDH), is also included for each film.

The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This slim three-disc set ships in a hinged keepcase with simple, attractive cover artwork and a matching slipcover... unlike the obviously bulkier Extended Edition Blu-ray boxed set, which gives each film its own multi-disc keepcase. Also, unlike the much bulkier Middle Earth Ultimate Collector's Edition, no digital copy codes are included.

Not surprisingly, the bonus features are pretty much nil... only a handful of Trailers are included for each film, and that's all she wrote. It's a shame we couldn't at lease get the modest promotional extras included on the old theatrical cut Blu-rays, which included several EPK-style featurettes, a few related TV specials, and other odds and ends. These were originally collected on three bonus DVDs -- one per film -- and, given that the new Extended Edition includes the old bonus "appendice" DVDs, it's a shame this one didn't follow suit. (Perhaps rights issues with some of the material?) Either way, there's still almost 10 hours of movie content on this set, so not too bad for a budget release.

The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

While all three of Warner Bros.' recent Lord of the Rings 20th Anniversary packages (this entry-level theatrical cut Blu-ray set, the beefier Extended Edition Blu-ray boxed set, and the whopping Middle Earth Ultimate Collector's Edition) are each a little disappointing in one way or another, this "Level 1" option serves up all three theatrical films on Blu-ray with almost no bonus features for under $20. Even with reservations about the new remasters and the omission of those lightweight theatrical extras, it's a decent "bang for your buck" release that won't hog much shelf space.