Falls Short

Rating: 6/10 (5 January 2013)

There are lots of people rating this movie as the greatest thing ever, but really if you compare it to the original series you'd have to admit it falls far short. Originally Orcs were quite illiterate and ignorant creatures, and even the super orcs only slightly more articulate but very well suited for doing the evil deeds of dark forces. These orcs were well versed in the queens English and quite comical, almost cartoonish. I didn't get the same sense of a growing darkness and menacing evil. The mountain trolls were just super sized versions of Larry , Moe, and Curly with lots of corn-ball humor that all seemed out of place considering the impending doom. The mountain rock-creatures served no purpose to the movie. They could have been something conjured up by an evil force to impede the good guys journey but apparently were just a random rock em sock-em rock fight. The cave fighting scenes wore me out, and the eagle rescue at the end had me wondering why Gandolf didn't order up the flight right from the start and save them and us from all the trouble. Overall it feels more like it was made to appeal to children instead of serious Lord of the Ring fans.