A beautiful adaptation of brilliant book.

Rating: 9/10 (5 April 2014)

I finished the book a few months back and had a blast while reading it. So I decided to watch the Extended Edition to relive as much of the book on the screen as I could.
To begin, there are some noticeable differences between the book and the film. However, this is not a complaint; quite the opposite. These scenes served to deliver the story in a way that would not be possible or as entertaining as written by Tolkien. Now, this is not a complaint about the book. Each medium delivered the story in the method best suited to itself. Aside from different delivery forms, there were scenes such as at the end when Aragorn lets Frodo go. In the book, Frodo departs without being sent off by him.
The narration at the beginning solidly laid out the background and location of the story. This was a useful addition to help set things up for viewers that have never read the books and a time- saver of narration during the movie for people that have read the books. And all the scenery! These guys could not have chosen better filming locations.
Even though the movie had a run time of almost 3.5 hours (lots of credits), there was an omission that bothered me. In the book, Tom Bombadil comes to the Hobbits' aid. He was a major character by Tolkien and I think the quality of the movie's plot suffered without his presence.
Another, bigger, source of vexation were the inconsistencies with the CGI. This really bothered me because of the film's budget and the range of CGI quality. On one hand, things like the Balrog were executed with perfection. On the other, there were scenes where it was blatantly obvious the assistance of computers was used and times that the hobbits and Gimli changed size in relation with the men and Elves. I get that the computers from 2000 were not nearly as powerful as today, but when a Balrog can be drawn up so well, a scene of Gandalf flying on an eagle should not give away the truth of Ian McKellen dressed up and sitting in front of a green screen.
All this being said, I would willingly watch the movie again; and the second and third are even better. Watched and written 04/05/2014.