Left after 2 hours

Rating: 3/10 (3 January 2002)

I swear every line of dialogue in this film was spoken with the gravity appropriate to the Constitution or the Old Testament. Every scene had the portent of Christ's ascension into heaven. There was very little down time or joy, except in the beginning during the birthday celebration.
To those who say the film was stylish, I say it certainly had a lot of black in it.
CGI was good, my favorite shots being the fireworks that turn into a swooping dragon and the flooding river in the shape of galloping horses.
Basically, I got tuckered out by every scene starting with Gandalf saying "This is the mighty forest such-and-such" and then a minute later "Oh, no, that beast is the mighty such-and-such, who lives on the blood of others." The plot felt like a greatest hits sampling of the book. I cared very little for any of the characters.
Elijah Wood kept me fascinated. He has a great face.