He got "IT"

Rating: 10/10 (19 December 2001)

Middle Earth has existed in my mind for thirty-five years. Within ten seconds of the movie's opening, I had slipped totally into that world, with absolutely no "cognitive dissonance." Peter Jackson has achieved what Tolkien would call a true "sub-creation' - a world entirely valid in its own terms. My jaw is still on the floor. I once (1970!) taught a course in the literary antecedents of LOTR, so I can nit-pick with the best of them. But why? As has been said, this film is in a category of its own. I simply have no understanding of the people who didn't like it. The set design and conceptualization were beyond hope. The acting, especially Sirs Ian & Ian, Elijah Wood (to my abject suprise), Cate Blanchet, Viggo Mortensen, and the incredible Sam of Sean Astin, was inspired. You can feel the bonding and duty. Tolkien's gift to humanity has been made manifest for the new century by Peter Jackson. Laus tibi Deo.