Definitely worth it!

Rating: 8/10 (20 December 2001)

I've been waiting to see "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" ever since I heard about the trailer being available for download on the Internet. I'd never read any of Tolkien's novels, and I had heard great things about them. On December 16th, three days before the movie was to be released, I found myself running up to a local bookstore and purchasing a copy of "The Fellowship of the Ring" for seven bucks and planning to read 500 pages in three days!
Of course, I didn't finish in time, but I saw the movie on opening night. Right from the opening scene, I knew right away an instant classic was being shown right in front of me. If you loved "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" (me being somewhat of a fan of Rowling's books), you'll most likely love "The Fellowship" even better.
The special effects in this movie were stunning and pure eye candy throughout. The long running time is definitely a drawback, but don't be fooled! What surprised me the most about the movie was Elijah Wood's performance. I remember seeing him in "North" in which he was pretty wooden. But he was perfect as Frodo Baggins. Liv Tyler was much of a disappointment, though. She was credited as one of the main stars, but she's only on camera for at least twenty minutes out of 180 minutes! She seemed quite amateurish and didn't quite fit the persona too well. McKellen (who plays seven-foot-tall Gandolf) is also very good and most of the time stands out more than anyone else on screen.
Don't feel bad if you find yourself fighting back some tears in certain parts of the movie because I did too. You get to know the characters and feel sympathy throughout their journey that when they're scared, you're scared, when they're happy, you're happy.
All in all, this film was definitely worth the money. I can't wait until the second and third films come out!