As good as it could be in 3 hours

Rating: 8/10 (24 December 2001)

I thought this version was about as good as it could be given the constraints of filmmaking. I found several flaws but none of them really impinged on my enjoyment of the film. On the positive side I was glad that the film was directed towards those who have read the books. If you haven't, do so after having seen the movie and then see it again. Personally I get tired of having screen time wasted with old cinematic devices such as obligatory introductory passages... "Hi! I'm Old Soandso and I come from Wherever and this is why I am here". It sits in the same boat with Big Word Defining, but that's another story. Half the audience was naming the characters out loud as they appeared anyway... there was alot of ground to cover and it was nice to get on with it. Another high point was that even tho the story deviated from the book in small ways if you haven't read it in a few years, you won't know the difference. The important scenes are there. The best part of the movie, IMHO, was the way it looked. There was a pervasive feeling of Olde England that was just right. Another plus was the absence of annoying cutsey characters.... no Bobo's (Clash of the Titans). I couldn't believe I was actually worried about Sam drowning... good job!
On the other hand, I didn't care for the all-encompassing silver tone. I think that color could have been used to better effect. It was perfect in some scenes but was monotonous to have it used uniformly in nearly every scene. I also thought they used too many tight shots. The long shots were sufficient but the middle range was noticably absent. I think of long as being the Big Picture, close being the mind of the character and mid being You Are there... where you as an outsider would be standing in the action. The mid shots just weren't there, or didn't appear to be. Another short-coming was that the magic was pretty boring. I realize this can be overdone, but the magic could have benefitted from some nice special effects. I did think that the white horses in the raging river scene were excellent, so there is not much danger that other magic couldn't have been handled just as nicely. The firey writing on the Ring was just right, too. As in almost all films like this the feeling of compression was noticable. No idea how that can be avoided. There's just so much to cram in. Other peeve: too much shedding of tears. Maybe a few screen-moments could have been recovered here?