Good Begining Fast with some exceptions B+ A- Rating

Rating: 7/10 (19 December 2001)

(WARNING: THERE IS A TINY SPOILER IN THE REVIEW... VERY SMALL BUT NECESSARY)
Review of The Fellowship of the Ring -DarkCloud
The movie began better than I had expected. Since I read the book, I knew the prestory, but one of the people I went with did not... Thus, while I found the introduction easy to understand, my friend needed some explination about the names and the relationship between characters. The beginning was well-filled with action, and when Gandalf came to Hobbiton, it went fairly well... However, Bilbo Baggins, although acting well when he first met Gandalf, sort of fell flat as the movie went on. They did a good job of making hobbits seem smaller than the humans by casting tall humans, but the hobbits did not really look like "hobbits", however the Dwarves looked well... The Goblins and Orcs looked Reasonable, but the Balrog looked too much like a reject Magog from the Heroes of Might and Magic computer game. The elves did not look sufficiently different from humans, or from each other. Arwen looked much like Galadriel and each of their names were only mentioned once, thus it was hard to tell whether Galadriel was Arwen at one time... *.* The only main thing they cut out was Tom Bombadil. And the only minor thing they cut out that was not a major "change" was that Gandalf did not battle at Candlekeep. However their little "addition" and "change" with Arwen, truly made the movie fairly annoying. Instead of Gandalf saving Frodo from the Nazgul, Arwen appears, with little or no explanation. She then saves Frodo by crossing the river and sends the river down on the Nazgul... Then Gandalf appears and Arwen disappears after talking to Aragorn (Strider)? I understand the need for "romance", but please, don't mess with Tolkien.
Other than that, the only other confusing parts of the movie was when the Party reached Lothorioen and met Galadriel and her husband. The trouble here was Galadriel looked much like Arwen and her husband looked MUCH like Elrond... Thus, the idea was given that Elrond and Arwen rode ahead of the party somehow???? It made no sense- eventually I figured out it was not Arwen, but Galadriel and thus Elrond couln't have come...
However, Galadriel only mentions her name once!
The other problem with Galadriel was her temptation by the ring which was confusing, unnecessary and unexplained. It could have been cut.
And, one annoying detail was the misty "ring" sequences when Frodo puts on the ring and is transported into the mist. Those sequences were merely annoying.
Overall the story was quick, execept for a few 'dramatic' moments such as the drawing out of Boromir's death and Samwise under the water. The acting was so-so... Frodo, Gandalf, and Saruman did extremely well, whereas I believe Boromir could have looked a bit more haunted. Bilbo could have been improved.
The story was kept to better than most adaptations which I have seen, and the additions of the back story at the beginning of the tale was necessary.
Also, they did a good job of setting up the Ents for book two with Saruman burning trees.
Overall, I would rate the movie about a B+ or A-.
However, when I left the movie, I heard someone behind me remark (I doubt he had ever read the books) "That was crap." referring to the ending... Now of course, we could not expect the producers of the movie to make the ending better, but, this lead me to think that perhaps they should release one movie every 6 months, just so that people will remember what happened in the last movie and the movies won't have to be summed up. Also, it would allow people to feel 'fullfilled' sooner. For, the person making the remark seemed unfulfilled. (I also noticed at least 2 people walk out of the movie and not return)
However, some, such as my friend who had never read the books, rate it higher than the Harry Potter movie, and have pledged to read the books due to how interesting the movie was.
I look forward to the sequel and a possible prequel (the Hobbit) ;)
-DarkCloud