cinematic at a video pace.

Rating: 10/10 (30 March 2002)

this piece is masterful. I thought I was rushed through right after it, then I thought it was overrated, and then my opinion just kept declining till seeing it again today. Then I saw the commentary before the special edition, and I caught myself rewinding and rewinding at every other shot to catch the movie again. This is a darn good movie I said to myself, and I still think I am right as I write this. One of the few flaws I could think of is that the pace of the last scene is so quick that it gives you a feeling of having been rushed to the exit. The pacing of the various events that happen also prevented me from appreciating the unfolding of the story, which is quite excellent, even if it gave me the same deja vu feeling of watching the sequel Back to the Future after the original when I compared it to the first movie. Speaking of pacing, I thought Natalie Portman was gorgeous as always, but she walked awfully fast for the type of princess she seemed to portray. Although the movie depends on computer graphics more heavily than the fans of make-up and other non-computer generated special effects would like, the standard of filmmaking is much higher than that of the other and recent oscar-winning fantasy trilogy.