Almost perfect!

Rating: Null/10 (21 August 2002)

I've always been in love with the fantasy genre, and for someone also in my situation, this movie is an utter dream! After being incredibly disappointed by Harry Potter (I loved the books, but the movie was just so horribly done. I can't really blame people for disliking the fandom so much), I was looking forward to LOTR. Having never read LOTR (but setting out to do so after watching the film and ending up falling in love with the books), I went in with an unbiased attitude and came out with a blissful smile on my face.
This movie comes with only a few flaws, which is rare slow pacing at a couple of points and lack of character development in a few cases, most notably the hobbits Merry and Pippin. Being one of my favorite characters in the books because of how his character grows and changes, I was a bit let down that Pippin's only purpose movie-wise seemed to be for comic relief. However, I'm sure that when The Two Towers is released, we'll get a bit more of a backbone to that character. Most of the development for him in the first part was written in scenes not included in the movie. Many scenes were cut, but I actually thought it was better for the pacing of the movie. Glorfindel and Tom Bombadil, while both great characters to the books, are quite irrelevant for a filmed trilogy, seeing as neither of the two come into play later.
Every aspect of the film gets an all around excellent grade from me. Howard Shore's score was beautiful for a lack of a better word, the scenery, cinematography and CGIs made you believe Middle Earth actually exists, and the acting was superb (especially Sir Ian McKellen. Sir Ian brought everything that makes Gandalf one of my favorite characters to life).
The fantasy movie genre has always been dismissed for being full of B-movies and pure cheese. But finally, we have a lovely film to give this category a good name.