I am very disappointed! (in some comments I have read)

Rating: Null/10 (8 January 2002)

There is the Lord of the Rings book, a masterpiece of storytelling and there is the movie trilogy. It comforts me that they have reviewed the entire book and tied up a few links in this one to the next two, re-working I think it's called. To name two that come to mind, Sarumans on-screen anti-environmental foolishness and the burial boat going over the waterfall, both were something brought to light only in the second novel, tying in two more characters respectively.
Tom Bombadil. A reader doesn't mind a couple of chapters on father nature that don't relate to the rest of the story, viewer's are a different matter. Glorfindel bights the dust making way for Arwen in seeking thier love dimension to the story. They have also borrowed the first chapter of The Two Towers for the climax. The Wizards duel as well, audiences would not be satisfied with Gandalf just submitting at threat so they worked in a 'Willow'-ish Wizard fight which is quite good. And finally they keep us up to speed on Isenguard and Saruman, and introducing us to the Uruk Hai a little earlier. Non-readers will be pleased to know that the books get progressively shorter with 'Fellowship' the longest and 'Return' the shortest. I would expect that at the end of the year we will be viewing a 2.5 hr movie or there abouts.
I have only two complaints. One, you can't really get into the action because the filming is so erratic, and two, Galadriel. Due to either directing or acting she comes off as pompous. The filming also does not do Blanchettes unique beauty justice in some shots. Thats the end of my list of complaints. I LOVED everything else, the vista's, the flawless effects the solid and at points inspiring performances this movie does indeed access all of the cinema pallete, the movie is charming, dazzling, thrilling and saddening. Look no further for the movie that The Phantom Menace never was.

I would also move J.R.R. Tolkien higher on George Lucas's 'borrowings' list, recapping on the book undermines my divotion to Star Wars a bit. From the Obi Wan and Gandalf parallels to the garbage monster scene and lots more. I saw TPM 6 times at the movies mainly because of the Lightsabre duel, I have seen this one 4 already and have no plans to stop there. I'm done with heirachy's too, opinion ones. This movie deserves to be above the Godfather in my opinion, no in Joe Blogs' opinion, yes in Bill Blogg's opinion, I mean who really cares. Everyone has a different agenda. The AFI somehow decided that Jurassic Park and Braveheart both deserved the scrap heap while Annie Hall and Unforgiven and countless others didn't, give me a break. I have my own favourites, they're welcome to thier own.
This movie is 2001's best picture, Oscar winner or not. I would say regardless of who wins the BPO, this will snag the biggest tally. What really sucks is the hide of everyone who has made Harry Potter a 700 million mega hit while this sits rotting on a 67 million FIVE day opening weekend, hell 3 movies last year beat that in just THREE days, mind you it has beaten two of those already, a stayer not a sprinter I guess. But it's still like people are getting thier ticket listing botched or something, Potter is a dull CHILDS movie.
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring = 10/10