This movie is a feast

Rating: 10/10 (16 January 2002)

This movie is feast. I greedily savored each and every millimetre of celluloid bliss.
Stunning and imaginative visuals that looked almost, but not quite, like places we recall seeing on postcards of distant lands we always meant to visit, if we could only find the money and time. (Places, in short, not unlike New Zealand.) Faces--freakish, evil, kind, and merry that are almost, but not quite, like those of people we know. Emotions--strong and true, but uncomplicated.
Middle Earth should be a place which is recognizable to us on some deep and unconscious level. Something that I have always marveled at was how similar my own conception of Middle Earth, and the appearance and demeanor of the main characters of the various races, was to that of other readers of the books. It is only some of the illustrators of the various abridged versions through the years who I feel somehow miss out on Tolkien's sense of whimsy and natural wonder, and are all canned fantasy 1970's heavy-metal album cover art cliche. This tells me that Tolkien was successful in transmitting his own vision to each of us readers in a remarkably similar way, and I think the only way that I would truly have been disappointed with the FOTR would have been if PJ's version was a vision I did not recognize.
I do not consider myself a Tolkien geek. However, I spent the entire movie sighing with satisfaction--yes, Yes, YES!! He got the look of the characters and settings all just right. I can hardly wait for Ents.
Most of my piddling complaints had to do with the Mines of Moria and with Lothlorien. I felt the Watcher in the Water sequences could have been better handled. It was too murky and the pace was off there. Also, they said when they entered that it would take three days to get through the mines, but on film, it seemed just a few hours. Another element that I felt was lacking was the chemistry between Gimli and Legolas, which is one of the best things in the novels, and the parts where Gimli's being a dwarf causes problems getting the group into Lothlorien (that was the part where the Fellowship really came together, I think, supporting Gimli, and I missed seeing it), AND I missed the part where Galadriel gives her gifts to all the company, and they also receive the vital elven provisions that will sustain the hobbits in the action to come. I missed seeing Galadriel give her lock of hair to Gimli. That was not only the start of better relations between dwarves and elves, but also sets up some conflict later on between Gimli and humans who speak negatively of the elf-queen. I guess that will be cut out of the story, too, but I really felt for the lovelorn dwarf and was sorry to see that not appear in this movie.
Less time could have been spent watching Saruman build his uruk-hai army and given over to that sort of thing. But DAMN! I would love to see the Isengard scenes in IMAX.
I only had one other nit to pick, and this is a nit that this movie shares with Harry Potter--the soundtrack DID become intrusive at times, with the Wagneresque background operatic-type bombast.
High points--the Council of Elrond, particularly when shown from poor little homesick Frodo's point of view. The battle with the Cave Troll (I LIKED it! This was a bit of action that didn't read very well to me in the original novel). The inside joke for Sharpe fans ;o). The Shire and Bag End--perfect, just too perfect. Everything to do, visually, with Isengard. EVERY scene involving hobbits. Gandalf was just as one pictured him, of course, strong and wise and quite amused by hobbits. All the actors were terrific, and really inhabited their characters. I am reserving judgement, though, on Viggo. I hope Aragorn will get a little more dimensional as the films progress. But he was limited by Tolkien and the script, more so than by his own acting, so I shan't criticize him.
But in the end, this movie, like the quest itself, succeeds or fails on the backs of the littlest persons--the hobbits. The hobbits were perfection. I cannot imagine better casting. They were the most adorable things I ever saw; I could eat them with a spoon and yet, they were completely plausible as beings with heart and courage and nobility of character. The Merry/Pippin pairing in particular displayed what Tolkien called "the slow-kindled courage of their race".
The elements of friendship that Peter Jackson spoke of wishing to focus on in this movie were extremely well realized between the hobbits. I am very turned-off my manufactured "buddy" chemistry. I can handle the manufactured romance between Arwen and Aragorn since it was like that in the novel, too, but I could not bear it if the relationships between the hobbits did not ring true.
You can see why Frodo is a person that the other three would follow, and why Sam would want to protect him and watch over him like a faithful dog. You can see what Sam brings to the friendship that keeps Frodo sane and his spirits from flagging. You can see why Merry and Pippin's personalities complimented each other, and how they both are starting to come of age in this movie. The actor who plays Pippin has enormous on-screen charisma, and I have a painful crush on him. I don't know if his unique "look" will suit him for many types of roles, but he definitely has star quality and was a real joy to discover. He WAS Pippin Took, and as such, he and Merry provided badly-needed comic relief!
Now, if Gimli and Legolas can just be given enough script and less action-oriented scenes in the upcoming movies to bring their own mutual-antagonism-dissolving-into-respect-then-friendship to life onscreen. But I thought the way that the different fighting styles of the races of Middle Earth were portrayed were excellent.
This movie was a highly auspicious start to the Trilogy.