As good a movie as I have ever seen!

Rating: 9/10 (18 January 2002)

I went in with very high expectations, mainly from it taking over #1 on the all time list here, but also because I loved the stories as a child. I am a sci-fi nut, & I love fantasy, so I was so looking forward to this. I have never seen a movie so complete & balanced in every way. You can see they took no shortcuts, or cheap tricks here. They went all out, cast, crew, special effects, & locations, everything was right on. I felt like I was in middle earth. Sets that you know for a fact are fake look totally real. The acting was on target not so overdone or gaudy that it took away from the scenery, but not so weak that it away from the character depth. I don't know that everyone should give this a 10, but it at least deserves an 8 from just about everybody. No movie ever made has been this anticipated & then surpassed all possible expectations. I agree with a previous comment, "This is what we expected from Star Wars: Episode I". All I add to that is this, "& hope to see from Episode II!"