Average Rating: 
Rating:  - An astonishing masterpiece.
Considered both as fantasy adventure and as an adaptation of a beloved literary classic, Peter Jackson's film of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" sets new standards for cinematic excellence. Everything about this film feels exactly right, from the casting to the screenplay to the special effects. The last are amazing, putting to shame anything George Lucas has come up with, and yet they always serve to advance the story; unlike Lucas, there's never any hint that Jackson is merely playing with his toys. Jackson shows great respect for Tolkien's text, but not slavish devotion. Certain characters--such as the lovable Tom Bombadil and Frodo's poisonous Aunt Lobelia--are missing, and Tolkien would be chagrined to find that the little poems and songs he loved to write are nowhere quoted. But if Jackson gives short shrift to Tolkien's whimsy, he more than makes up for that by giving us Tolkien's intensity, pathos and moral vision absolutely undiluted. Above all, Jackson never forgets that Tolkien's chief emphasis was always on the characters he created. Jackson casts wonderful actors to play those characters and--again unlike Lucas--he actually allows them to give performances. How wonderful to find the great Sir Ian McKellen, a uniquely commanding and charismatic actor, as Gandalf, or the charming and touching Elijah Wood as Frodo. You can go straight down the list--Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn, Sean Astin as Sam, Ian Holm as Bilbo, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel--and find nothing but perfection. This is one of the very few big-budget blockbusters that unqualifiedly deserves its success, and all we can do now is look forward with excitement to the release of "The Two Towers" in 2002 and "The Return of the King" in 2003. Like the books they came from, these three fillms will be cherished by future generations.
Rating: - An astonishing masterpiece.
Considered both as fantasy adventure and as an adaptation of a beloved literary classic, Peter Jackson's film of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" sets new standards for cinematic excellence. Everything about this film feels exactly right, from the casting to the screenplay to the special effects. The last are amazing, putting to shame anything George Lucas has come up with, and yet they always serve to advance the story; unlike Lucas, there's never any hint that Jackson is merely playing with his toys. Jackson shows great respect for Tolkien's text, but not slavish devotion. Certain characters--such as the lovable Tom Bombadil and Frodo's poisonous Aunt Lobelia--are missing, and Tolkien would be chagrined to find that the little poems and songs he loved to write are nowhere quoted. But if Jackson gives short shrift to Tolkien's whimsy, he more than makes up for that by giving us Tolkien's intensity, pathos and moral vision absolutely undiluted. Above all, Jackson never forgets that Tolkien's chief emphasis was always on the characters he created. Jackson casts wonderful actors to play those characters and--again unlike Lucas--he actually allows them to give performances. How wonderful to find the great Sir Ian McKellen, a uniquely commanding and charismatic actor, as Gandalf, or the charming and touching Elijah Wood as Frodo. You can go straight down the list--Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn, Sean Astin as Sam, Ian Holm as Bilbo, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel--and find nothing but perfection. This is one of the very few big-budget blockbusters that unqualifiedly deserves its success, and all we can do now is look forward with excitement to the release of "The Two Towers" in 2002 and "The Return of the King" in 2003. Like the books they came from, these three fillms will be cherished by future generations.
Rating: - This is NOT Another LOTR Reveiw. How to See Something Funny:
P>STEP ONE: THE TWO TOWERS TRAILER: Put in disc 2 of the actual movie. Now, go to the Select-a-Scene menu. Navigate down to the last section, which is the fanclub credits. Still with me? Good. Now pay attention to this last bit: Use the arrow keys to select the menu navigator on the right side of the screen. Great! now, press the down button until the symbol of two towers apears under the menu. Kewl, huh? Great, now just hit ENTER and enjoy a fantastic Two Towers Trailer. STEP TWO: The OTHER Council of Elrond WARNING: This Easter Egg, although side-splittingly hilarious, contains extremely innapropriate references. It is rated PG-13 in and of itself, although it doesn't exactly show anything unsuitable for young impressionable minds, it certainly has some controversial dialouge. Okay, brace yourself. This is an extremely funny alternate version of the council of Elrond. Simply put in disc one of the movie, go to Select-a-scene, and then just keep going down the list until you get to the very last menu. Go down one more notch. A little ring will apear on the bottom of the screen. Press ENTER, and get ready to spray whatever your drinking nasally all over the place. Seriously, this is so funny, I choked on a pretzel and almost DIED I was laughing so hard. Even my mom and dad laughed until they were sobbing, and beleive me, this is not tasteful adult humour by anyone's standards. I'm laughing so hard right now just thinking about it I can barely type correctly. Man, I gotta go watch it again. After all that fantastic LOTR stuff, which I LOVE by the way, this just catches you off-guard. I nicknamed it The OTHER Council of Elrond, or The Ring and The Thing. And for all of you who don't like this movie, I'm saving your reviews to Microsoft Word, they entertain me so much.
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