Great adaptation of epic!

Rating: 10/10 (18 August 2002)

I gave this movie a 9 on the IMDB survey. That's excellent, since hardly any movies are rated by me that high and 10s are a scant few. I first saw this movie in a theater and was ready for the Two Towers right then! I was entranced. Also I hadn't read the trilogy in about 25 years. I read the Fellowship right before watching the DVD this time and of course saw the compromises made to get the movie down to about 3 hours. Personally I'd be happy to see a 6 hour Fellowship movie since it would've certainly been more intelligent. How can you 2nd guess which parts to cut/edit/shorten? For me the whole story was more than just parts. Gandalf was always going to go with Frodo when he left the Shire and sure as hell would not have rode off to get advice, leaving him on the road with just Sam. The fact that the journey started out 17 years after the party, and not a few days later, when Frodo was about 50 gives the impression that the Hobbits are just big kids. The Tom Bombadill episode wasn't essential, but it is the first instance of getting help along the way, a running thread throughout the trilogy. It also showed that not all things were swayed by the power of the Ring. I suppose it is nice to have Arwen rescue Frodo from the Nazgul (it was great on camera) but Glorfindel did just fine in the book, and Frodo was alone on the horse at the river which I think makes him a stronger character. As movies can only do, you notice that the fellowship was on foot and I just don't get why Tolkien didn't give them horses to ride once the Fellowship set off from Rivendell. Who the heck would want to walk? Things unseen and unspoken go on in the Lothlorien that would've added to the magical nature of the quest. Mostly though, it is the shortening of the story that grates, because what is shown is a work of art and an act of love. Starting at Bilbo's party and right down to the breaking of the fellowship I felt taken in and in awe that the movie could capture the spirit of the book so well, if not the letter. The Balrog is a great DVD replay item! I'm no Tolkien fanboy with bookmarks on every page but this is the grandaddy of all modern fantasy stories and a great movie was finally made to do it justice.