fantastic movie, 4.5 stars out of 5

Rating: 10/10 (19 December 2001)

I came out of Lord of the Rings very happy. I will mention now that I never read the books, however I went to the movie with two friends who read them all at least three times. They had given me the the plot-line of the book so when I did watch the movie I knew when certain incidents were to occur.
Going into the movie: I was excited, but also worried that it would disappoint the book fans, also if the were showing the balrog would it really be that authentic? Reaction: It was great. Jackson's Balrog was quite well done, especially since illustrating fire through computer graphics as being real is one of the hardest to do. The action sequences were very entertaining and kept me at the edge of my seat. The 3 hours went by fast. Then I asked my friends, who actually read the books, they said it was great. The few parts left out in the movie, as well as the Tom Bombadil character, were not essential to the primary story. One friend said that if Bombadil was in the movie, his character would have confused anyone who hadn't read the book.
Overall: this is a must-see movie, leaving this person the anticipation of December 2002.