Watched Rankin/Bass'
The Hobbit cartoon for the first time a few weeks ago and I thought it was wonderful. Seriously, they don't make cartoons like this more. The animations were lovely, and so was the voice acting and the soundtrack. Gollum inexplicably looked like some kind of bulking salamander but he was downright creepy and the actor who did his voice did a marvelous job. Oh, that the elves of Mirkwood looked like gremlins was a hard pill to swallow but that wouldn't have been an issue for most kids, the target audience of the cartoon.
And that scene when Bilbo climbs a tree in Mirkwood and sees all them black butterflies almost brought tears to my eyes, I swear
Just wish I had the chance to see it through the eyes of a child.