Totally enthralling; probably the best adaption possible

Rating: Null/10 (20 December 2001)

Having waited for several years in nervous anticipation for the release of the first installment of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, I perhaps went into the screening (opening night -- God bless ATMs!) with a more critical eye than most.
An avid fan of the books since my teens (although, I like to think, not to fanatical lengths -- no pointy hats or hairy hobbit feet in my wardrobe), I recently re-read all three books in the lead-up to The Fellowship of the Ring's release. As a result, my mental images of the places, characters and situations were still very clear.
So, armed as I was with my own personal interpretations and a critical eye developed through four years of waiting, Peter Jackson was going to have to come up with something pretty special to impress me.
And boy does he deliver the goods.
From scenes of heart-pounding action (the Black Rider chases, the cave troll and Balrog in the Mines of Moria, the attempt on Caradhras, the duel of the wizards) through to heartfelt moments of friendship and love, the New Zealand born director and co-scriptwriter (with his wife Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens) handles every element of J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth realm with a deftness that it's hard to imagine could come from any other director.
There are problems with the abridged nature of the story, of course, and not just for purists. The arrival of the Fellowship at the Golden Wood of Lothlorien, for example, is swift, with their journey in the wood starting out among what look like thin beech trees. But suddenly the travellers reach the huge trees of Caras Galadhon in the heart of the wood, with a whole city in their branches. In the book, the trees gradually get bigger as they move deeper into the wood. In the film, however, this sudden leap seems to offset the pacing a little.
Nevertheless, this is only a minor quibble -- a necessity of keeping the audience interested for the whopping 128-minute running time. And if viewers are not already familiar with the books, it's likely that these things will go unnoticed.
As for the acting, it is universally superb, with Ian McKellan (as Gandalf the Grey) the show-stealer. It must be a real challenge to portray someone who wields such awesome power and yet is equally capable of gentleness and kindness beyond measure. The performances of the entire fellowship, and the film's supporting players too, are a tribute not just to the actors themselves, but to Jackson's always-impeccable casting.
An overall opinion is difficult to decide upon, since the film should probably be judged as part of the whole when the other films have been released. But, on the strength of this first episode, I think we can look forward to gripping Christmas viewing in both 2002 and 2003, when The Two Towers and The Return of the King respectively head our way.
The crunching goblin noises were good too...