Just a few points

Rating: Null/10 (24 December 2001)

Sorry, I just had to wade in...
Several people here have said this film is 'okay, but not as good as star wars'. I feel that on balance the FOTR _as_a_film_ is a good deal better than Star Wars. Star Wars was constructed specifically for cinema and wasn't an attempt at adapting a book that in many respects is simply too large for film. Given the difficulties inherent in the project (the glass is always half-empty with adaptations from books) I'm surprised FOTR's faults are so few. So, essentially, it was more difficult to make FOTR as un-crap as it is, whereas it's comparatively easy to make Star Wars 'good' (and let's face it, without the music score and the sound effects it wouldn't have been half as impressive).
What some may be confusing is the cinematic value of Star Wars vs. the huge cultural/nostalgic/whatever resonance it has accumulated. Will the Lord of the Rings films surpass this? I don't think so -- mostly because the LOTR world is too complex to fire the imagination the way Star Wars does. But Fellowship of the Rings is a much greater achievement cinematically than the first Star Wars film and IMO only Empire Strikes Back rivals it.
As for FOTR itself:
I respect the effort Jackson has put into characterisation, and he's managed to evoke a real tenderness in the characters -- something probably more true to Tolkien than we should ever have expected. The other bonus about a film adaptation is that you don't get Tolkien's embarrassingly portentious language.
Admittedly I regret the shambles that was the film version of the council of Elrond (althought you have to admire how Hugo Weaving delivered his performance with the same alien menace of his role in the Matrix -- he seems more truly, 'traditionally' elvish than one could hope). It's true that we were left wondering who these Gimli and Legolas fellows were. That's a pity. But there you go. We'll get to know them much better in the Two Towers, and maybe a vast director's cut for the 'true fans' will restore all that.
To those who think the film is boring or too long: try to expand your attention span.
To those who think this film is the best anything of all time: don't get carried away.
To those of you who were grief-stricken that the _ADAPTATION_ was not 100% faithful: just calm down.
To those who thought there wasn't enough action: you are idiots.