Excellent film inspired by, but not truthful to, the book.

Rating: 9/10 (6 January 2002)

The Lord of the Rings is my favourite book, and I have longed for a great while to see it put into a worthy film. Despite the fact that many major changes were made to the story, this film lives up to that title in spirit.

I would have liked to have seen the hobbits singing Shire songs at the Prancing Pony, to have seen Legolas get his due credit for meeting Frodo's party after their encounter at Weathertop... and to have seen Gandalf get his due credit for transforming the river into a stampede of white horses, would have preferred it if Saruman would not have been portrayed as being in league with Sauron, when really he really wanted to try to use the ring against him, and I really would have appreciated it if Gimli and his party would not have been portrayed as being ignorant of the fact that Moria was a ruin, and I would have liked it if Frodo had - as in the book - told no one of his plans to go off alone... all of which were changed, along with a lot of the characters' motives and emotions.
I would have loved to see an exact replica of the books on film, but I see how the changes help the film to be effective in new ways. While the singing at the Prancing pony emphasizes the nievete' of the Hobbits, the lack of it emphasized how intimidated they were. Arwen is to marry Aragorn... it's nice to see her character being developed on the screen. Saruman's shift to the dark side simplifies the conflicts... so that emphasis can be put on the Fellowship and the corrupting influence of the ring. The "realization" on screen that Moria has been overtaken helps to create an overwhelming sense of despair and dread, and Frodo's exchanges with his fellows - regarding his plans to leave - really deepen the characters and shows how wise, perceptive, and bonded this Fellowship is.
Middle Earth, all of its characters, locales, peoples, creatures, and cultures are right there on the screen... which alone thrilled me... but also on screen was the heaviness of the impending doom, the dark, awful reality of the ringbearer's task, the steadfastness of the simplest folk, and the love, honor, respect, strength, and wisdom of the characters involved. There is so much a purist could criticise in this film, but I prefer to praise the faithfulness of the portrayal to the spirit of the story. I gave it a 9.