Despite it's many flaws, my favorite movie of all time

Rating: Null/10 (9 April 2004)

I love this movie. I watch at least the first half of it everyday and somtimes watch it and the Two Towers back to back. Having said that I have to say I am surprised at how shoddy the script and much of the production is. I am assuming that most of the problems with the film are Peter Jackson's fault, not Tolkien's. I did not notice most of the flaws in the film until I had watched it a few times, but now that I have seen it 40 times, they stick out like a sore thumb.
In simple production flaws there are lots of instances where the size differences between Hobbits and humans are done on the cheap. They go by so fast you don't notice them at first, but the scenes between Gandolf and Frodo at Bag End are frought with size discrepencies. Basicly they depended on the real size difference between Woods and Ian McKellan, rather than special effects, but it is clear that Frodo is not half the size of the Gandolf, more like three quarters his size.
The rings are a major problem also. Sauron made the ring for himself and wore it. Sauron was twice the size of a normal man, so the ring had to be twice the size of a normal ring. If Frodo is half the size of a normal man and has proportionately sized hands, the ring should be big enough for him to wear as a bracelet, not fit his finger. Also the ring is on a chain one minute and not the next. An example is when Boramir tries to take it from Frodo, it is on a chain. When Frodo shows it to Aragorn a few minutes later, it is not on a chain and after escaping throught the woods to the lakeside he stops and looks at the ring again and it on the chain again. This on a chain, not on a chain thing happens throughout the movie.
Then there is Gandolf's staff. When he escapes from Saraman's tower, he does not have his staff or hat, yet when the Fellowship leaves Rivendale he has both. What did he do go back and knock on the door and say "OH by the way I think I left my staff and hat here, May I have them?" Bill the Pony also disapears at times.
As for plot problems;I am not sure if it is explained in the book, but Aragorn's presence at The Prancing Pony really bugs me. He seems to know who Frodo is and that he has the Ring and is being persued by the Ring Wrathes. How does he know this? Gandolf just found out about the ring himself and there in no communication between them since Gandolf rides off and gets trapped at Isengard. Gandolf does not seem to be telepathic, so how does Aragorn know what he knows. He is not just there by coincidence since he knows too much about Frodo when they meet. Is there a missing scene with communcation between Aragorn and Gandolf before Gandolf leaves for Isengard?.
Arwen is not the elf who saves Frodo in the book. It is a male elf who comes to rescue Frodo in the book, which seems more in keeping with the action. The scenes when Arwen enters and rides away to Rivendale with Frodo are a mess. Aragorn steps a few feet away from Frodo and the other Hobbits. As he bends over the kingsfoil a sword is placed against his neck and Arwen delivers a sarcastic remark about him being off guard. She then rides in a glow of light into Frodo's view. Since Aragorn and Arwen have a very serious, very loving relationship, I found it impossible that she would jest about cutting his throat.
Also Aragorn was only a few feet away from the Hobbits and Arwen would have to be on foot to place a sword against his throat as she does. When she comes into Frodo's view Arwen is mounted and her horse takes several strides toward him indicating she was some distance away when he first saw her. Why would she remount her horse to go 10 feet? The timing and distances are all messed up in this sequence, not to mention the interaction between Aragorn and Arwen. Then Arwin takes off with Frodo like a sack of potaotos and is pursued by the Ring Wraithes. The action sequence here makes no sence when viewed a few times. At one point Arwen is many horse lengths ahead of the Wraithes and in the next second they are right next to her. Also close ups of Frodo's face show him in a couple of shots with an Alice Cooper like make up job, lots of running mascara around his eyes and yet when Arwen reaches the river and there are more close ups of his face the mascara is gone. Obviously the director and make up people could not decide what the dying Frodo was supposed to look like, made several takes with and without the make up and mixed up the footage in editing. Sloppy!
There are dozens more problems like this in the film.(Yet I have detected no glaring inconsistancies in the production of The Two Towers). My last observation is that when the fellowship is going through Moria and comes across Balin's tomb they stop, read the last chronicle and are atacked by the Cave Troll there was an open exit at he back of the tomb the whole time. Why would they stay and fight rather than just leave by the back way? I am not sure whether Tolkien or Jackson is responsble for this stupidity, obvioulsy for the sake of a big battle scene. It is clear that the exit that they run out of after they kill the Cave Trol is at the back of the tomb because of the shaft of light that illuminates Balin's tomb. It comes in through a hole in the back wall of the tomb. As they run out after the battle you can clearly see a shaft of light originating somewhere in the upper reaches of the hall and penitrating the tomb through a small square hole from the outside of the tomb indicating that they are exiting through that back wall. There is a view of a large hole at the base of that wall for a second or two as they enter it the chamber.That has to be their exit. Why bar the door and wait to be attached when they could have barred the door and just exited. Not sure if the shaft of light thing is a production mistake or is described that way in the book, but it is obvious that is was all done for thake of a big battle scene that logicly did not have to take place, but was needed for plot.(if they had excaped Gandolf would not have had his battle with the Balrock,died and been resurected).
There are dozens of other inconsistancies within this film, yet despite these problems with both plot and production, this is my all time favorite movie. I never tire of it. The performaces are magnificent, especilally Ian Mckellan as Gandolf the Grey. I treasure this movie, yet I wonder how much better it would have been if they were not making three movies at once and had concetrated all of their efforts on this one.
I mentioned that I do do not see the same kind of mistakes in The Two Towers.(there are some things I am not clear on in that film, like exactly how the Urak Hai are being reproduced. It seems like the Orks are grubbing them out of the earth like potatos, but that started in The Fellowship so that is just a conitued puzzle.) So Jackson clearly learned a lot from making this film and applied it to making the following two films. The Two Towers is rather dark for me.(Treebeard is my favorite character)but is a good film.I have not seen Return of the King yet. I am looking forward to purchasing the platimunm DVDs of all three later this year