Great book adaptation, not so great film.

Rating: 6/10 (15 January 2002)

AS a massive fan of Tolkien's books, including the Hobbit, I was very keen to see the Fellowship. I must confess to being a little dissapointed. The script was cumbersome and unwieldy with, in my opinion, poor performances by Wood and his hobbits aswell as the usualy brilliant Cate Blanchette. And the role of Arwen? Pointless. Thankfully, the books relegate Arwen and Aragorn's love story to an appendix, which is where it should have stayed.
Call me old fashioned, but the use of some of the CGI stuff spoiled the film. With such fantastic shots of New Zealand/Middle Earth and some good miniature work, the graphics detracted from the fresh, organic feel of the rest of the film. One other concern of mine before I saw the movie, was visual representation of the characters and various creatures from the books. This is where Peter Jacksons film succeeds. The fellowship looked spot on and the orcs were sutibly evil and cruel, especially juxtaposed aginst the beautiful scenery and woodlands. 6/10