Enjoy three hours in another world

Rating: 10/10 (19 December 2001)

Watching this film is like planning a great birthday-party (like the 111th birthday of Bilbo)for almost 20 years (that's the time that has passed since i've first read the books)and looking forward to the day when all the guests you are waiting for with great expectations will arrive. And yes, for the next three hours, almost everyone of them came and almost everyone (the only one i've sadly missed is Tom Bombadil) was just as i've imagined after reading the books. The only exception for me was Elrond; casting Hugo Weaver as Master of Rivendell was in my opinion the only mistake among the otherwise excellent chosen actors. Outstanding: Ian McKellen does not play Gandalf, he seems to incarnate as the old, sometimes funny, grumpy and very mighty old wizard as he is portrayed in Tolkiens books.
Okay, this is certainly no objective critic, not even a comment it's more or less a love-letter but this film deserves it. I'm quite sure that almost all who love the books will love this film for the pictures do not destroy the fantasy that lies in the heart of the readers but engage it and even make them love Tolkiens world more than before. Enjoy three hours in another world, called Middle-Earth, long ago gone in the mists of time.