Very good, but not great.

Rating: 7/10 (1 April 2002)

It seems, now days, that a movie can be mediocre, or average, yet be praised because next to all the other horrible movies out there it seems to shine. I don't think this is fully the case with LOTR, but what's it have to compete with today? While 70%-80% of this movie had me awestruck and anxious for the next scene, the other 20%-30% had me wondering if I was watching the same movie. The casting was excellent Liv Tyler's Arwen was very disappointing however, and I kept expecting Elrond to call someone Mr. Anderson from behind a pair of shades. The cinematography was as one would have viewed it from there own eyes. I noticed some difficulty relating the eye contact in some of the generated scenes ,much like Liam Neeson's eye contact with Jar-Jar in the Phantom Menace. My biggest complaints; 1.there seemed to be much more fighting scenes then in the book 2. the generated faces lusting for the ring (facial expressions are the key to acting, let me see the want in there face, don't express it for them)3. the lack of certain situational, relationships. For example, the brotherly love between Frodo, and Sam; the hate that bleeds to love between Gimli and Legolas; and the master and apprentice-like union between Gandalf and Aragorn. I was slightly disappointed of the decision to exclude Tom Bombadil, too, as that was a favorite section of mine. And of course the Hollywood like approach to force a love interest into a story. A love interest that not only doesn't exist (in this chapter) but is awkward and unnecessary. I hate to be so critical as I did enjoy this movie very much, but it for no reason belongs in the top 3 movies (or even 50 for that matter) of all time.