A great effort by Peter Jackson!

Rating: Null/10 (10 August 2002)

This movie was spectacular! The cinematography was stunning, the music was beautiful (although some of it sounded similar to Edvard Greig's Peer Gynt), and the acting was excellent. I've heard people complain that it wasn't enough like the book, but obviously Peter Jackson had to leave some things out, or each 1/3rd of the movie would have been at least 6 hours long! Those who complain that there were too many dull stretches should remember that the book was about a long journey with some amazing events- but those events didn't happen every day. (Some spoilers ahead.) It would have been nice if Jackson had shown some of Sam, Pippin, and Merry's attempts to get Frodo to admit that he wasn't really going to settle down at Crickhollow, and to convince him to let them go with him. It would have been cool to see the Old Forest and Bombadil, but it really wasn't necessary to drive the plot along (although the special swords the hobbits found in the barrow-downs were important later in the book). I did wonder why Jackson didn't show more about why and how the eagle came to rescue Gandalf on Orthanc- this was one of the spots in the movie where it really helped to have read the book. It also would have helped if there had been more indications of how many days passed in the various stages of the journey, and maybe a map to better understand the progress of the Nine. I also felt that Jackson could have removed the scene in Moria where the stairway crumbles and breaks and instead added a few more details that actually were in the book. The actors did a great job portraying characters that really didn't have many lines to help those unfamiliar with the book to understand personalities and motives. The Aragorn/Arwen relationship could have been better explained- in the movie we learn that Aragorn is in exile, but nothing is said about how Elrond won't let him marry Arwen until he is a king, which is a big part of his motivation to succeed in the quest. Saruman is portrayed as doing Sauron's bidding, when in the book he was working for himself and only tolerated by Sauron because it served his purpose.
All in all, despite the changes and omissions, this movie really captures the mood and action of the book. Everyone involved did an excellent job! Hopefully this movie will get people to read LOTR- the three movies might become classics, but the books already are.