Misses all the good things.

Rating: Null/10 (10 January 2002)

It is not an easy task to review this movie, as it was not an easy task to make it. Judging from the book, it might even be impossible.
Honestly, when looking at Peter Jackson's work, if you haven't read the book, you can't help but think it's a really good heroic fantasy movie.
But if you have... Well, maybe you were a little boy like Jackson when you read it, and you liked it for its cool fights and monsters. Yeah. Or maybe you were a grown-up who liked all these little details that set LOTR apart from the rest. And, frankly, when Jackson said he had to drop some of the best elements of the book (Tom Bombadil for example) because Tolkien's works were too rich to be adapted in their entirety, he forgot to tell us that he would use this extra time to add even more fight scenes, an orc-goblin hybrid (I don't remember this ? Not that it is of any interest...) and some stupid jokes.
Really. What's with all the time the characters spent in the mines ? Sure, that looks good and impressive. But how about the *characters* themselves ? How about developing Samwise ? He's supposed to be fond of elves in the book. It isn't even mentioned once in the movie. Merry and Pippin ? Why are they so immature here ? Basically everyone was forgotten. Even Bilbo. He's supposed to be a joyful man, his bitterness shouldn't be visible, and as much as I like Ian Holm as an actor (although he seems to be doomed with characters which are as boring on film as they are fascinating on paper -- see From Hell), Jackson's Bilbo is not the Bilbo we know. Actually no one is the character we know. There are some good scenes, some characters are actually nicely depicted (Galadriel comes to mind), but that's all.
Just a beautiful piece of a movie, with no soul at all. We want our mushrooms !