The Perfect Fantasy Movie

Rating: 10/10 (7 July 2008)

I've watched this movie so many times now that I'm past counting. Granted, the long version is a LOT better than the short one, the cinema version is still awesome.
The Fellowship Of The Ring (and indeed the entire trilogy) has become something that I enjoy watching parts of with my family every now and then in the evenings instead of reading a book to the boys. The pace of the long version is at a comfortable rhythm and the entire thing is of course glorious to see and listen to.
It is so good that you feel sorry for people that don't like it, or slam a single or zero stars on it here on IMDb, purely in order to keep its overall rating down. It is pathetic. The movie is a thoroughly enjoyable, unique experience for people of all ages, an outstanding production with stellar performances, most notably from Ian McKellen, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Kate Blanchett, Elijah Wood and Viggo Mortensen (phew, that's half the main cast :)), their performances standing a tad ahead of the rest.
My exact star-rating would be 9.6 as there are some flaws that are totally excusable. The Godfather isn't a perfect movie, neither is 2001: Space Odyssey, but they are damn close, just like LOTR.
I've only read LotR once in my life, and it altered the course I took, I'll admit to that. But I honestly expected Mr. Jackson & co. to screw this up. How the hell were they going to pull this off? Tolkien's style of writing wasn't really "great" as Hemingway or Shakespeare would be classified, but it's the world he created and the high adventure. And I was totally blown away.
The changes done to the story, how it's told and the character juxtapositions are excusable, and the way Silmarillion is present behind all that happens in the movie is just a great effort and success.