Excellent or Good, Have You Read the Books?

Rating: 8/10 (21 December 2001)

The Lord of the Rings is all in all a "good" movie. For those viewers who have not ever read the books I believe it will be a wonderous tale and a feast for your senses. On the other hand, for those of us who have read the books numerous times and are enthralled with Tolkien's tale, the movie will be decent, but lackluster. The rich imagery and the little details that set the series apart are not there. Having read the novels I found myself in the theater thinking, "Hey, what about this part, or they left that out, that sucks." While it was interesting to watch my imagination played before me, I left the movie feeling that the characters were shallow and not developed enough. There are exceptions, for instance Sam is the same in the books and in the movie - kudos to Sean Astin - but I believe that several of the other characters were given a different feel and persona. In summary I say, "Excellent film I you haven't read the books, Good if you have."