Fantastic film, fantastic book - Jackson and Tolkien are gold stars.

Rating: 10/10 (9 August 2002)

When you have two such different mediums as a book and a film, you must take the same story and meld it to the medium. In a book, the author relies on the reader's mind's eye to create the video and the audio inside the gray matter we call a brain. In many cases, the transfer from book to film suffers for this exact reason, with cases too many to number: any of the films based upon Asimov's works come immediately to mind.
That is not the case here. Peter Jackson has directed a masterpiece that shows his mind's eye view of the Tolkien classic. Why has he succeeded where so many have failed in this book-to-film quest before? Because his mind's eye, his imagination, are simply incredible.
While reading the trilogy as a teenager, then a college student, and an aborted attempt recently (I'll finish, but working full time gets in the way of such pleasures), I had my own vision of the books. Granted, it was much different from Jackson's. However, in many ways, it was the same; upon every reading I return to the wide eyed childhood I loved so much. To my days of playing Dungeons and Dragons after reading the trilogy for the first time, creating my own fantasies. Jackson is clearly living his life long dream in his direction and production of this film. Using a great cast, tasteful special effects, and his imagination, Jackson has created a tapestry of a film that Tolkien himself would have been proud to view.
In a trip to Oxford, England I took less than a month ago, I began to understand Tolkien's imagination. The place is filled with history, riddles, and mythology. I went with my father, an Oxford graduate, and heard many stories of his college day lore from the late '60s. As we passed many of Tolkien's traditional spots, I felt history shaking my bones. On top of this, as a tourist destination, you can see many great spots in Oxford... like the garden where Alice in Wonderland was conceived and written.
Jackson's view is different than the vision Tolkien had while writing the epic trilogy, but that is the great thing about epics: its all in the mind's eye. Jackson manages to create a film that shows you his mind's eye view, while allowing the viewer of the film to mesh their own view with his. That is why this film succeeds.
Hats off to Sir Ian for playing the stoner wizard perfectly, by the way!