Incredible!

Rating: 10/10 (21 December 2001)

I'm not going to write a run-down of the plot which is seemingly what most of the reviewers do here for some stupid reason.. but what I am going to do is just tell everyone flat out... this movie was amazing enough to make me FINALLY (after years of visiting iMDB) make an account and vote a perfect 10 and write this user comment.
The scenery is spectacular, and ever-changing throughout the whole 3 hour movie. After about an hour of watching it.. i began asking myself over and over.. HOW THE HECK DID THEY AFFORD ALL THIS? WOOOW!!!
The CG and special effects are WICKED! This movie is just so awesome in every aspect of movie-making that I'm at a loss of words and thus being a little vague. You HAVE to see this movie to see what I'm talking about... even the best user reviews do it no justice. You think the Lord of the Rings Movie-Trailer was awesome? Multiply that by a factor of 100.. that's the movie.
Despite what some people think... you DON'T have to have read JRR Tolkien's books to understand the plot of the movie. I for one, have not read any of Tolkien's books, and I followed the storyline perfectly! I know a few friends who HAVE read the books, and it is confirmed by them that the movie DOES follow the book, and the movie does an EXCELLENT job immersing even those in the audience who have NOT read the books.
Music is SUPERB and goes perfectly with every scene.
Character development was done with careful consideration and as far as I am concerned, it is perfect.
Regardless of what some people think, the ending of this movie was done EXACTLY as it should be and will provide for an excellent transition into the second movie: (The Two Towers) in 2002.
All in all.. if you're into fantasy type movies.. GO SEE THIS! Even if you're not.. GO SEE IT, just to see what I'm talking about with scenery/music/special fx/storyline etc. This stuff is top-of-the-line present day movie-making technology at work here folks. At least go see it for the sake of appreciating the precision technology used to make something like this! I rated this movie a perfect 10, because it's certainly nothing short of that. If I could rate higher, I'd give it a 15 ... 5 extra bonus points for outstanding screenplay writing!