Magnificent

Rating: 9/10 (20 December 2001)

This movie simply is a new classic. The effects, the scenery, the actors, everything combines to a truly epic tale of good and evil.
From the very beginning of the film when the narrator's voice begins you're spellbound by it. I can't remember when I last felt like this watching a movie during my 26 year long life.
Being a Tolkien fanatic or not, you most likely will embrace the movie, and probably love it. The movie does lack the book's ability to fully describe the characters backgrounds and personalities and in the short time of the film, even though it's three hours long, the fellowship's travels is cut quite short and you don't get the feeling of travelling along. This however is when you compare it to the text of the book and since it's two totally different media they shouldn't be each ones mirrored copy.
I could write about the movie for hours, about the splendid scenery, the awesome actors (Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee, wow. And my personal favorite, Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn) and the dramatic but not overdone effects. But instead I will recommend that you see it for yourself, because unless you totally hate dream worlds with fantasy creatures you'll gonna like this film, having read the books or not.