A perfect capture of the book's zeitgeist and of the collective consciousness within Tolkien's fan base.

Rating: 10/10 (25 November 2005)

It is no accident that the British film charts often rank The Fellowship of the Ring higher than the Return of the King. Peter Jackson's first Tolkien movie is his most lyrical, capturing the whimsy of rural Britain in the precise way Tolkien intended via his hobbits of the Shire. The tension builds in smooth, well-paced stages that not only seduces the non-Tolkien reader but also satisfies the fan base with a visual authenticity incorporating, for instance, the art of Alan Lee and John Howe, long known for their depictions of Middle-Earth. Jackson therefore harnesses the zeitgeist and the pre-existent love of Tolkien devotees across the world. The end product, in addition to being a finely balanced movie, means that viewers slip into a world strangely familiar or even preferable to the one in which they actually live. This is film alchemy of the highest order. The love invested in the project means that movie fans return again and again to this melange of comforting images and heroic archetypes that earmark all the great movies in history.