Overrated Film of the Century (already!)

Rating: 1/10 (15 March 2002)

First of all, most people who praise this film did NOT read the books. The books are amazing but cannot work as film. Maybe that is why no one has undertaken this epic until now. What I can't understand was how people can praise all the different aspects of it. The costuming and sets were the only thing decent. My complaints? Too many liberties were taken with the book. Now, I'm not referring to the plot elements (which were more or less intact except for Tom Bombadil. If you don't know who that is, read the book!) but the style that Tolkien worked so hard to preserve in all of his books. The first item that was ruined in the first 5 minutes was the mystery of Sauron. Sauron is such an amazing character because you never get more than very small glimses of him. Tolkien keeps this throughout all the books. Jackson ruined that in 5 minutes. Next, the action always follows the hobbits. This put you in the place of the hobbits. What characters would be better for an audience to identify with? They were as much outsiders to this strange world as we are. Unfortunately, Jackson ruined that also.
The directing was nothing spectacular. It was unobtrusive, but there was no style really, so it did not add any more depth to the movie. The acting was pretty good, but it could not save the movie from the unforgivable sins that the movie committed to the book.
The special effects, though praised, were not good at all. You'd think since they have to do 3 films with hobbits that they would come up with a good way to do them and stick to it. Not the case! The hobbits change size drastically throughout the film depending on the technique that is being used to reduce them. Sometimes they are children, but the worst is when they just put them further from the camera. How is that supposed to work? Although we do not have depth perception in the theater, the audience can still tell when the size difference is only created by the perspective. The CG effects were not outstanding, but after seeing Star Wars: Episode 1, it was nice to know costumes can still be used well.
Now, if I had not read the book, would I have a better view of this film? You bet, but too many things from the book were ruined to make it more of a conventional movie. Even still, I definitely would not think it is worthy of being ranked so high on IMDB.com.