A child movie

Rating: 1/10 (21 November 2008)

If you have kids no older than 8 you should show hem this movie. Im sure theyll be occupied for at least 3.5 hours. If you're grown up and on a date with a nice girl/boy and want to impress them avoid this movie.
Lord of the rings goes on where Star Wars ended; an endless battle between Good and Evil. A little guy called Frodo is trusted with the safekeeping of a golden ring, because the much bigger and powerful ancient demon fighting sorcerer Gandalf doesn't dare to. Yea right. First sign we are in for 3.5 hours of nonsense. The whole movie you never understand exactly why Frodo was picked. All he does is squeel a lot and doesn't fight at all against adversaries. And even when opportunities present themselves, like in Moiras mine - an enemy beast turns his head close to Frodo and he could have stabbed something in its head but for some reason doesn't - he remains frozen while his fellow travellers do approach with action and kill the enemy doing just that: stabbing something in its head. There are also no heroic or smart decisions made by him. The only thing he seems to do, is giving the camera his big blue eyes naive look.
You also get a deja vu feeling when the head of the sorcerers switches sides and goes and work for the evil side. Haven't we seen exactly that in Star Wars? Anyway its also in the book so im sure its authentic but nevertheless you get a been there, done that feeling.
Then there's the fighting. People get stabbed, shot, mutilated without the slightest drop of blood. An arm gets chopped off, a head gets chopped off but not a splatter in sight. Im sure the directors have done that to give the children not too much of a scare but for the believability of the movie they should have either not shown fighting scenes at all, or give a realistic image of events. The fellowship gets chased by thousands and thousands of Orks in Moira but for some reason they don't catch up fast enough.
Then after 3.5 hours the movie suddenly ends without reaching the goal of destroying the ring. I was flabbergasted. What a waste of time. I now understand its the same end from the book albeit without any explanation why. The same was done in Star Wars but at least they gave a satisfying end and a longing to follow its next episode.
This is one of the most successful movies ever in terms of box office but i fail to understand why. Maybe people took their kids several times to see Frodo doing nothing much special for 3.5 hours. Maybe some people like to see a movie where the contrast between good and bad has never been depicted in such a black and white way before. Chrystal clear world. You have the utterly good side and the utterly bad side. I don't see the attraction.
Fantasy or not it could at least bring some nuance on both sides. Yes there was a reference to evil tempting good but again it was only black and white; they where either totally consumed by it or not. Nothing in between. Which in the end, would be more realistic. Im sure if Saluman (white hair, black eyebrows sorcerer) wanted to recreate Orks, hed done something magic to their teeth but in this movie he didn't and they look hideous. Im sure Gandalf (white hair, white eyebrows sorcerer) has some less altruistic traits but in this movie he is being painted as a saint with only good deeds. It is too much, its an open door and doesn't leave a lot for your imagination. The kind you find in many movies for children.
Which in the end it is. It is a laughable, Disney like production made for kids and strict believers in a black and white world. Most grown ups will leave scratching their head. A big thumb down from me.