Nowhere near the equal of the book

Rating: 7/10 (25 December 2001)

While this film was quite remarkable visually, I found it lacking in plot and especially characterization. While the plot had to be simplified from the book's to fit it within a single movie, the plot changes introduced made little sense. The characters were much more confrontational than in the book, thus losing the courtly nature of the heroes. This was one of the things that notably distinguished them from the villains, and was indicative of Tolkien's worldview. He hated the rush and inhumanity of modern life. The whimsy of the book was also lost.