Overdirected, overwritten, and just plain overrated

Rating: 1/10 (17 February 2003)

Story: A meager little elf inherits an all powerful ring and must destroy it before it gets into the wrong hands. Hmmm, that sounds like a good storyline, for one ninety minute movie! The screenplay is so prolonged in making its point that it borders on absurdity. I don't care if it's faithful to the book, it does not make for good storytelling, well, unless you consider a Thin Red Line a strong narrative.
I believe in lucid writing. Interesting characters. Good pacing. Effective dialog. Good acting, and strong action (if the story calls for action) -- Well, I think the acting and action are effective as is the photography and score, but the dialog is painful, devoid of any humanity (yes, I know the story doesn't deal with humans), the elves are irritating beyond words, the story is marginal and repetitive. Gets the ring, escape from the bad guys, continue on the quest to get rid of the ring. There's too many characters (for a lucid, tight storyline), there's too much mugging for the camera, making the whole experience for me anti-involving. And frankly, I just kept waiting for it to end. It does have one great sequence, I'll give it that. The bridge. But, I'll wait for video to see Two Towers. I hope I enjoy it a lot more.