From one classic to another classic

Rating: 10/10 (6 January 2008)

I am and have been a huge Tolkein fan for quite a long time, so when I first heard that they were making a movie on the first book Fellowship of the Ring I anticipated it with great enthusiasm. I'll let you know that I was twelve years old when this movie came out but it is my favorite movie to this day, and for good reasons.
First, I'll just quickly put that Tolkein's works are possibly the most in-depth works of literature ever. I say in-depth on purpose for he spent most of his life inventing the world of Middle Earth. This fantasy world had so much time and effort invested into its creation that anyone who reads the books feels as though this world is real and could only be a short hike away. Tolkein didn't just write the Lord of the Rings stories, he created an entirely living breathing world with history, lore, culture, philosophy, and religion in which many stories were able to take place in.
So how does Peter Jackson transition this great masterpiece of written work into a film version you ask? With great time, precision, effort, care, and devotion in my words. Many fans of books made into movies will often complain that the movies were failures because they didn't get the same feel that the book did and they didn't have exactly the same information, but I believe that it is very possible for someone to adapt a great piece of literature into an equally great piece of film albeit it might not be a "word for word" representation.
I expected nothing less than outstanding work on this movie, it is after all based on my favorite book, and I must say I was well pleased. If there is anyone that could have captured the look and feel of Middle Earth better than Peter Jackson did I challenge someone to show me this person because I find it hard to believe that this person could possibly exist. And the same goes for Howard Shore who invented the very sounds of Middle Earth. Everyone involved in making this film had a lot of pressure on them, because there were plenty of people out there who would have been violently perturbed had they screwed it up. What can I say, there's crazy people out there.
To put it simply, everything in this movie is the exact movie form of this book. Ian McKellen IS Gandalf, Elijah Wood IS Frodo, the set for Rivendell WAS Rivendell, the theme music for the fellowship WAS the music playing behind the marching fellowship when you read the book, that prop ring WAS the One Ring, etc. Obviously those statements aren't technically true but I think this team did the best they possibly could at portraying this story on screen.
I applaud them all for giving me and many others exactly what we wanted. It might not have been mirrored page by page, but this movie will ring out as one of the greatest fantasy epic movies of our time. A truly awe inspiring adaption of a truly awe inspiring book...