It needed to be 5 minutes longer.

Rating: 9/10 (20 December 2001)

NOTE: This review is aimed at those who have read the book and contains comments on the movie in relationship to the book. For those who have NOT read the book, there will be spoilers.
The Fellowship of the Ring is a wonderful movie that needed to be 5 minutes longer to be perfect. But, before I get to what is wrong, let's deal with what was right.
This is the story of the Ring of Power, the One Ring forged 2500 years ago to be the master ring for 19 other rings given to the other races of Middle Earth (9 to Men, 7 to Dwarves, and 3 to Elves). The Ring was forged by the evil power Sauron (an ancient evil not explained in the original trilogy but fleshed out in the Silmarillion). This first book contains the discovery of the Ring after its loss 500 years before, its identification, the councils on what should be done with it, and the first part if its journey to ultimate destruction.
I first read these books, all of them (Trilogy, Hobbit, Silmarillion, Tolkien Reader, etc.) 25 years ago and have, periodically read them several times since. Needless to say, I was ready to be disappointed in this movie and I am happy to say I wasn't. It was almost perfect (I gave it a 9).
That isn't to say that things were perfect. The Shire, Rivendell, and other scenes and characters were not as I had pictured them in my mind. That beind said, they still felt right. The photography was right, the casting was well done even if I though the Hobbits were a bit skinny. Even the additions to the move, the things not in the book, were right. The major rewrite was the harrowing ride to the ford at Rivendell. But even this, although completely different from the book, felt right and Tolkien would not have been disappointed with the change.
Also, the way in which the One Ring was quite sentient added to the story and it was very nice to see the way they gave a history of the ring, covering parts of the Silmarillion and the Hobbit in 15 minutes.
The sound and visuals are incredible and the fight scenes suitably horrific without being gory. I think New Zealand needs to give the makers of this film some royalties because I very much want to go and do some hiking in that country now.
What was done well? The Balrog (although they slipped a bit in the Mines and referred to Goblins once before switching to Orcs) was great. The battle with the Nazgul was perfect. The flood at the ford even had the white horses. In fact, far more was done right than wrong and made up for the ommissions.
What was left out? Well, Tom Bombadil does not appear (poor Tom has yet to survive outside the book), the Barrow Wights have disappeared, and the scene in the Prancing Pony where the Hobbits meet Strider is cut short so you don't get the full mystery behind him. These cuts were all appropriate and maybe some will arrive in a longer version of the movie on DVD.
So, why 5 minutes longer? There was two very major ommissions to the movie that will have a profound effect on the following movies. Galadriel never shows Frodo HER ring so Frodo's offer of the One Ring doesn't have as much impact nor does her refusal. Also, other than the crystal vial, Galadriel never gives the other gifts. The party is seen wearing the cloaks but the presentation never occurred. Nor is the waybread, Sam's dirt and seed with which he replants the Shire, nor any of the other gifts. All of these have a profound effect on following books and detracted from the impact that Galadriel had on the quest.
But even a blunder as large as this couldn't do more than add a chink in this movie. I liked it alot. Not perfect, but very, very good. I hope that they go back and do the Hobbit in the same style after the last of the Trilogy is released.