Stunning, value for money, a believable fantasy

Rating: Null/10 (19 December 2001)

This is a visually stunning and thoroughly entertaining version of the classic novel. Oddly, none of the veteran actors steal the film (surprising, given the presence of Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Christopher Lee as Saruman and John Rhys-Davies as Gimli). Cate Blanchett makes a poor and uncharismatic Galadriel, with an almost husky voice (nothing like the melodic voice she is supposed to possess).
Apart from Sean Bean, who is perfect as Boromir (what did they feed this guy?), it is the new actors and actresses who shine. Elijah Wood makes a wonderful and sensitive Frodo, Billy Boyd's true Scottish accent makes for a warming Pippin and Sean Astin plays the Samwise Gamgee character as it was meant to be. Hugo Weaving makes a dark Elrond (he is a cross between his Agent Smith in The Matrix, Professor Snape in Harry Potter and the Scorpion King in The Mummy 2). Viggo Mortensen is a believable Aragorn, straight from the pages of the novel, and Liv Tyler makes a surprisingly good and likeable Arwen, with an elevated role. I hope she appears in the next 2 films. I also can't wait to see Andy Serkis in the next film as Gollum.
The scenes are beautiful, not least Hobbiton itself, though Galadriels' forest scene was rushed and it is shame the Barrow Downs were left out. Moria is chilling, though the Balrog encounter could have been better choreographed. The fight sequences are excellent, particularly the Sauron Battle at the beginning of the movie. The photography is wonderful.
The music is, sadly, not memorable. There is an inevitable Carol Orf-style battle theme and, even though other music was provided by Enya, I feel the film was let down a little here. A hobbity theme music with pipes and lyres would have gone down well.
Don't get me wrong - I loved the film. My criticisms are minor and I would easily rate this a 10 out of 10. For value for money, this 3 hour epic is simply unbeatable and the only real downside is the 12 month wait for part 2.