The best movie I've seen in a long time!

Rating: 10/10 (14 July 2003)

I can't remember the last time I had this much fun watching a movie. All aspects of it were played out to near perfection, and the only things I can think of negative about it are only minor quibbles that for the most part I didn't think of until trying to force myself to look at a bad side of things.
At 2 1/2 hours, this movie does what only Fellowship of the Ring has succeeded at in recent history, it runs the exact length that it needs to for the movie to feel just right. It is neither too long where you feel like they are padding just because it's becoming a fad to make big movies, nor does it run too short and feel like things were wrapped up too quickly or easily.
The acting is superb from all participants. This is an ensemble piece, with multiple main characters, and it delivers an appropriately diverse and layered performance. Every player fills his or her role to perfection, with several standout performances by all leads, as well as by numerous supporting characters (good and bad guys). There were too many memorable characters to go into listing here, but they really did an excellent job of giving the feel that there was more going on in the world they created than just what they showed in the film.
The story was well thought out and developed much further than your average or even above average adventure films, yet it never got cumbersome or confusing, and was perfectly paced. It's also incredibly fun looking for the easter eggs from the ride which they cleverly blended into it.
And one final, major plus... The soundtrack is truly epic. My entire group that I watched it with kept commenting, "I gotta get the soundtrack!" Very exciting, catchy music that will stick with you for a long time! We don't see much of that anymore.
This movie is a breath of fresh air, and highly recommended viewing!