Very well done

Rating: 9/10 (16 February 2002)

If you'd have asked me a year or so ago which book is the most difficult to make into a film, I'd have almost definitely said Lord of the Rings. When I saw the film, I was taken aback. Firstly, it looks visually stunning. What's more, it fits Tolkien's descriptions very well; the appearance of the scenery in the film was strikingly close to how I'd imagined it on first reading the book, and the mixture between the beautiful scenery of New Zealand, indistinguishably blended with stiking computer-generated imagery.
Many of the negative comments I've read about the film stem from the director's interpretation of the book: specifically the sticky subject of turning the first third of what must be truly an epic book into a film which is watchable -- and enjoyable -- by all. I think Jackson has got this truly right. By all accounts, the book starts off slowly, and much of this needed to be cut in the film to make it appeal to all. And I think that's been done incredibly well.