The Impossible-to-make Movie has been made into the Perfect Movie

Rating: 10/10 (19 January 2002)

Reading LOTR back in the dark ages of the early '70s, and loving every page, I concluded that this was the best book(s) I had ever read. I still think that. I also concluded that this was one story that HAD to be made into a movie - with one catch: It is too BIG of a story to be a movie - it could simply not be told in one movie or three. Do I still think that? Not on your life! Peter Jackson, we are not worthy... What a fantastic job he has done. The only story that came close in my mind to LOTR was 'Dune'. While I myself liked the job that was done with it, as I watched 'Dune', I knew that those who had not read 'Dune' had to be confused. It was true to the book, but the explanatory material in it was too incomplete. I saw people leaving the theater, asking, "What happened? I didn't get it." Not so with LOTR. I watched with 2 non-readers of LOTR, and they both understood everything perfectly. The opening was so clear I was astounded. Those who have waited 30+ years for this movie to be made must understand how difficult of a thing it is to tell THIS story well for those who did NOT read it. And how magnificent of a telling of LOTR this is. Peter Jackson had the following choice: be true to EVERY aspect of the book, or tell the essential story with as many aspects as could FIT into 3 movies. I CHALLENGE ANYBODY that faults his choices to do it better!! I walked out of the theater thinking I had just watched the first perfect movie I had ever seen. I saw no flaws in the story, the script, the plot, the acting, the directing, the scenery (oh the scenery!), the cinematography, the music, the casting, the action, the pace, the special effects (I didn't think they could do the Hobbits to scale). (Hmm - that's 12 items - maybe we should give it 12 stars.) My 20-something daughter - who is used to 100-minute coming of age flicks, said, "It's so good, but it's too LONG!" I have seen it twice, and the second time, the 3 hours went by in a flash. [At this writing, this movie on IMDB has a "weighted average" of 9.1, an "arithmetic mean" of 9.0, and a "median" vote of 10.0, and has dropped to #2, behind 'The Godfather'. 'The Godfather' has scores of 9.0, 8.6, and 10.0, yet it re-claimed #1. I do not understand the IMDB scoring when 9.0 is higher than 9.1, and 8.6 is higher than 9.0. By the way, LOTR has been scored a 10 by 24,160 voters, while 'The Godfather' has 24,163 - only 3 more, while LOTR has about 10,500 FEWER overall votes. I am really curious about the math here. But of course, the votes are not all in, and it is probable that LOTR will eventually fall to 2nd, even in my math.] I am really happy that this story that I have loved so well has been turned into such a remarkable movie, and that so MANY people love the movie! Yes, Professor Tolkien, Frodo lives! And what a smile that has put on so many faces... When 65.7 percent of the voters rate a movie a 10 out of 10, I think we can say Mr. Jackson did okay by T.R.R.