Read the books! Avoid the movie!

Rating: 6/10 (20 December 2001)

This movie is, after a couple of days, really hyped! However, I do not see the reason for this!
Sure, some of the scenes are magnificent, the acting isn't bad and the special effects are amazing. This, however, do not save the movie from being a poor result of such a great manus to build upon.
First of all, you do not get almost none of the important background of the characters. Of course you can figue out that the hobes are a happy bunch of people, living a life free of worries. But you get no knowledge of the other characters; Gandalf is just there, you don't get to know anything about the nature of the alves, the dwarfs, the humans etc. The characters aren't developing through the movie. All of a sudden, they just change.

The focus of the movie seem to be on the fighting scenes and the landscape scenes rather than on the magnificent underlying story. That's a shame.
Read the books! If you have time over why not watch the movie. Don't expect too much though.