Letting it all set in...

Rating: 7/10 (13 January 2002)

***Warning this review contains spoilers***
I wanted to comment on this movie as soon as I saw it on the big screen, but instead I went home re-read (again) "The Fellowship of the Ring" and thought for a while about what I liked and disliked about the movie.
Overall, Peter Jackson does a very good job transforming an engrossing and detailed text into a feature length movie. He definitely nailed the visuals and most of the main characters were explained and played well.

Ian McKellen again deserves an Oscar for his great portrayal of Gandalf the Grey. If Elijah Wood doesn't quite have the depth to bring all of Frodo's frailties and strengths to the screen, he at least looks the part. Viggo Mortenson pulls off a credible Strider, but his role has been cut too short. One of the only bits of poetry that I thought was important to the book was Gandalf's letter to Frodo ("All that is gold does not glitter, nor all those that wander are lost..."). In the books we see that it is Frodo who has to judge Strider's character (paraphrasing: "An enemy spy would look fairer and feel fouler...").
Ian Holm as Bilbo was perfect and the rest of the characters were average to good in their roles. Two more comments on the characters:

1) I came out of the theatre hating Elrond (half expecting him to sneer"well hello Mr. Anderson")
2) The CGI itself served as a character and maybe the single best one in the movie. New Zealand was a fabulous place to shoot the film, the Shire looked great, the gates to Moria were perfect (and consistent to the book), Orthanac was perfect, although Lothlorien and Rivendell were not as awe-inspiring as I expected they still looked pretty spiffy, the Riders were great, and lastly the scenes when Frodo puts on the ring added a lot.
The plot of the movie worked well, but tried to put too much action in, when a little more exposition would have been welcome. Without reading the books i could see how a few of the characters could fly right by you. Plus the fight scenes (while decent) were not on the same level as most modern action movies. While Jackson obviously had to simplify Tolkien's text (and do a few non-invasive surgeries) I was for the most part pleased with how the book and movie connected. After all it is a movie and can't possibly put 1500 pages of text on screen in three hours. That being said, here are my personal highs and lows:
Low points:
1) Adding in Merry and Pippin like they're just along for the ride. It would have taken 25 seconds of screen time to show their friendship with Frodo. Although, once there, they are good comic foil in a movie lacking light moments.
2) The timing of events. I did not get a clear sense of how much time was elapsed. It should have been made clear that Bilbo left well before Frodo and that the trip to Rivendell is more than a two days journey.
3) How could you make Saruman align with Sauran??? This was a horrible mistake in my opinion. Although Christopher Lee plays a good Saruman, most of the plot devices around his role were poorly played out. The movie spent way too long on the visuals of the Orcs (there's plenty of time for the rest of the movies to be grim, "Fellowship" is the lightest of the books). Then we see the palantir in the first movie. What's the deal! (this will also kill a very important sequence involving Pippin's character later on) Saruman was always a wise man who, like Boromir, was tempted to use the power of the ring, not fall under the spell of the dark lord, the worst part translation from book to movie.
4) The glossing over of Lothlorien. I wish we could have seen a minute more so that Galadriel (who was a little too scary and not beautiful enough -- in the character, not outward sense) could have given her gifts to the fellowship. Sam and Frodo's gifts eventually serve as parts of the plot (especially Sam's in the healing of the Shire) and Gimli's request for a kiss is important to recognize his changing relationship with all elves.
5) The Council of Elrond was flat out awful. A shouting match?!? Get real. All they did was say "'i pledge my sword,' 'and i mine'..." cheesy, but perfect for the trailers. This should have been the time to also give us the slightest bit more information on Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Boromir. As a matter of fact, all aspects of the movie involving elves left a lot to be desired. Elves are supposed to be both wise and high and fair and I didn't get that sense.
High points
1) Cutting Bombadil. "sing-song bombadillo" just won't work in the movies.
2) Increasing Arwen's role/cutting Glorfindel and some other minor elves. At least the audience will know who she is in "Return"
3) Doing the Aragorn/Arwen romance in elvish. Saved us some really awful dialogue moments.
4) The Balrog scene was soooo well done, including Gandalf's "You shall not pass."
5) Not having the eagle chief talk. We'll see how they deal with this,(and ents) but it's going to have to be some pretty solid CGI for us to really believe talking animals (and trees).
6)The introduction was awesome! The perfect way to introduce Tolkien virgins and hope they don't get lost.
That's it for my rant, go see the movie. But if you love the books (like me) don't be too disappointed, Tolkien still rocks the big screen. 8/10