Wonderful, astonishing movie with excellent acting performances 10/10!! *SPOILERS!*

Rating: 10/10 (3 January 2003)

I had frantically tried to read the Fellowship before the movie had come out. I had read the Hobbit oh so long ago, and I had bought the Fellowship book before it came out, thinking, this might be interesting to read, and then go see the movie to see if it does justice to the book. I absolutely can't stand movies that don't stick close to books. If they don't, wouldn't that be copyright infringement or something?
This movie goes waaaay beyond justice of the book. Because the great thing is, this movie is not exactly the book, which actually goes against my ideals of films and books!
I had not been able to finish the Fellowship book before the movie had come out. But the movie, while sticking close to the book, was more of a glance of the book, then took its own stance. Peter Jackson brings more of Tolkien's ideals out more in the movie that i could find in the book after I had finished it.
I finished the book finally, although my mind was still stuck on the movie. I'd have to say that the movie, finally, is more entertaining than the book. It is true; the book leaves more to the imagination. But it was as if all of my dreams and imaginations came true onto the screen.
Jackson brings a celebration of the human spirit to Middle Earth. Hobbiton is the cheery all-night party town. It's all pure fun, and innocent. They have basically no knowledge of the outside world, of Mordor, Isengard, elves, men, whatever. Gandalf, the powerful, kind wizard, is even seen as a strange man to the citizens of Hobbiton. kind of like going to a family reunion (at least in my family).
Isengard and Mordor, of course just by the sound of their names, is evil. It's all dark, and the bad guys dwell there.
Rivendell and Lothlorien are the beautiful, graceful kind of places that I would love to live in. Elves dwell in these places, and the places absolutely glow in the movie. Of course, some digital glowing too.
The different races that make up the fellowship kind of represent each person's...well, personality. Hobbits (halflings) are the fun, cheery, innocent little guys you just wanna give a big squishy hug to, and Dominic Monaghan (Merry) and Billy Boyd (Pippin) bring absolute great comic moments to the movie. They are so great together, it looks as if their jokes are all impromptu. The elves almost would make you feel inferior. They are perfect, they're in tune with nature and whatnot. And Orlando Bloom (Legolas) brings about that perfect boy-scout personality, the kind of personality that makes you want to be like him. He's honorable, beautiful, and wise. The race of men are kind of at the bottom of the chain here. They're deceitful, greedy, and mean. But there is also honor, hope, and love to be found in them as well. They're us, and that's great. My problem with elves is that they're kind of too perfect. Men have weaknesses, just like we do today. Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) does an absolute perfect Aragorn.
And hats off to Sean Bean as Boromir. I never felt that man was given enough credit. When I read the first book, Boromir was just a bad man. He was stupid and stubborn. Well, Boromir is kind of stubborn in the movie as well. My main qualm with the book was that it seemed as if he was naturally corrupted like that. Like Elrond would have let him in the Fellowship then. But the movie centered more around the fact that it was the ring that eventually did him in. Even kings can be taken by the ring. And Bean just brings an enormous amount of
character to Boromir, such as honor, humor and kindness (the scene with
Boromir teaching Merry and Pippin how to fight), corruption (my favorite scene of all is when Boromir picks up the ring at Cahradas (?) and has that great little monologue), but redemption as well. He's corrupted, but not taken by the ring. He saves himself in the end by helping the hobbits. A more tortured man than Aragorn I have to say. Yay for Sean!
I believe all has been said about Ian McKellen as Gandalf. Still cannot believe he didn't take home the Oscar! ("They have to throw that old queen a bone sometime!"-McKellen's commentary on SNL) Two other surprises are Liv Tyler (Arwen) and Elijah Wood (Frodo). I always associtated Tyler with teenie bopper movies, this is a wonderful change for her, and she does such a wonderful job. I'm enormously glad Jackson gave Arwen more screen time. And Wood I congratulate for bringing an excellent performance as Frodo Baggins to the screen. Sorry 'Lij, but I get the feeling this will be the one part you're going to be remembered for the rest of your life, no matter how many movies you do.
The special effects are breathtaking, and the music is so beautiful! My mother's a big fan of Enya, so I kinda grew up on her music. But that song Aniron has to be the best song she has done yet. I'm such a big fan of Celtic and Old English music.
There are so many other things I want to say. But they all know they're good, and all did a spectacular job.
I believe this movie will do for kids and younger people like me what Star Wars did for the children and younger people of that generation. This movie is like Star Wars. You always hear stories of people growing up in the cinema, seeing movies like The Godfather, Star Wars, Indiana Jones. Now it's our turn with Lord of The Rings.
The greatest thing? This movie was 3 hours, and felt like an hour and a half. That's my main qualm with the second movie. It was good, but why did the movie seem so LONG?