Minor flaws, but a good adaption nonetheless

Rating: 8/10 (29 December 2001)

Well, this turned out to be a pleasant surprise. As a major Tolkien fan, I was rather apprehensive, especially knowing how Hollywood usually fouls up a good book's plot. Peter Jackson has done a very good job sticking to the main plot, and the visuals are stunning.
A few highlights:

The look of the film is closely modelled on the existing artwork surrounding Tolkien's work. When Gandalf enters Bag End, it looks just like the picture that is included in some editions of The Hobbit. In fact, Gandalf himself is obviously modelled on Alan Lee's Gandalf as depicted on the Millenium Edition of the books. The visuals suck you right into the story.

Arwen. Aside from 15 seconds of bad dialogue, Liv Tyler pulls of a very convincing Elven princess. The expansion of her role is understandable (We only get to see the full story of Aragorn and Arwen in the Appendix in the books) and a fine demonstration of how Peter Jackson chose his trade-offs in adapting the books.

Galadriel. A nice touch I thought was the obvious resemblance between Galadriel and Arwen (She is Arwen's grandmother after all). The temptation scene was stunning. Only niggle is that Galadriel's age is not emphasized as in the books. It would have lent a little more depth to her temptation I think.

Now for the niggles:

The dialogue is on occasion horrible. It happens in only a few spots, but it is jarring and it mars the suspension of disbelief. Gimli's words on the Sorceress of the Woods are a clear sample, but there's a few more.

Although Peter Jackson does a good job of condensing subplots into the main plot, occasionally he could have used a little more exposition. A lot of character history is left out. Especially Gimli and Legolas remain flat and lifeless. The reason for Aragorn's exile could have been made clearer too, as it is presented as a major plot point. The scenes between Aragorn and Boromir are obvious setups to 'The Return Of The King', so they could have done with some exposition at the expense of fluff elsewhere in the film.

Boromirs fall from grace is too obvious. He gets nearly no screentime, and in what little he gets he is obviously being set up. The actual temptation scene is wonderful though, but his redemption as he lays dying could have done with a little less dialogue.

Elijah Wood does a good job on the scant material he is given. His acting is fair, but the character of Frodo gets almost no room to develop.

If you go see it, take a back seat in the theater. The mass scenes are too crowded to properly follow on a wide screen if you're sitting too close.

Overall, there's nothing wrong with this movie that can't be fixed in the sequels. It is a good adaptation of the books, and a very good film in its own right. Worth seeing more than once.