imo the hobbit > the lotr trilogy. it is wilder and more mysterious, and is not so bogged down in boring elven histories and feudal politics. also because I saw the animated version several times as a child:
First trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
and because of that movie, my concept of goblins has always been:
First trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
First trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
which are in my opinion much more visually interesting than how goblins are commonly depicted (green midgets with huge ears and noses). gey.
also note the films unique take on gollum, and trolls and elves:
First trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
First trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
way creepier than movie gollum. jeez they f'd it up in the movie. sorry gollum.
trolls:
First trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
First trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
the trolls in the movie weren't too bad, looked a lot like rancors but still visually interesting. but as you can see here, the animated ones were still a bit more original.
and the elves, wayyy different:
First trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
First trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
perhaps the creepiest, most alien creatures in the film.
if the animation seems a little oriental, it's because they had a japanese studio do it (some of the same people went to work for hayao miyazaki, who did stuff like spirited away, princess mononoke, and howl's moving castle.) probably also why animated smaug was hairy and catlike. common for oriental dragons to be depicted with fur.
best part about 1977 hobbit: the music.
"down down, to goblin town" sung by the goblins as they are ambushing the dwarves in a cave as they slept, and taking them captive. the tune stolen by south park recently. clearly they are fans, they also used the 'greatest adventure' song.
"funny little things" song goblins sang while setting fire to the tree which the dwarves had climbed to escape them. love how goblins are both poetic and graphic.
"that's what bilbo baggins hates/gandalf's reflection" first part sung by the dwarves as they are trolling bilbo; the second part (0:50) is part of the misty mountains song, in which gandalf tells the story of how the dwarves of Lonely Mountain provoked genocide by Smaug. in my opinion, the eeriest most foreboding part of the entire movie.
also interesting is how the 70's music style was already old by the time I heard it, so it added to the apparent oldness of the story.