Exceeded my every expectation

Rating: 10/10 (1 July 2002)

When I first learned that this movie was being made I unconciously conjured images of the horrid Lord of the Rings made in the '70's.
There were so many things that could have gone wrong with a movie of this magnitude, but to my great pleasure none of them did. Peter Jackson and company did an extraordinary job of bringing this incredible book to life.

The sheer amount of detail is astonishing. Nothing since Star Wars has created such an amazing fantasy world. But none of this would matter if the acting wasn't executed to perfection. Every actor fits their role to perfectly.
I only have a couple of complaints. The romance between Aragorn and Arwen was only briefly touched and seemed a little forced. We're only given a couple lines of dialogue about the impact of their relationship but nothing that shows why Arwen should want to give up her immortality. I can only hope that this will be fleshed out in the sequels. I was also a little disappointed to see so much of Lothlorien cut out of the movie. We don't get to see any of Gimli's affection towards Galadriel or the gift-giving scene and much more that occured there.
But these are very minor complaints. As long as you aren't a die hard fan who will be mortally offended by the changes from the book to movie or just plain against anything fantastical in nature, then you should thoroughly enjoy this movie. I give it 10/10.