Filmed on Location in Middle Earth

Rating: 10/10 (2 January 2002)

(Very mild spoilers)
This film works because director Peter Jackson brings his vision of Middle Earth to the screen in a vividly realistic manner.
That is why this film's reviewers - amateurs and professionals - can give long lists of flaws in character development, plot, computerized effects or fidelity to the book and still give the film a stellar rating.
To borrow from Orson Scott Card, LOTR is not a character story - so Jackson can be granted a certain (though not unlimited) license with character interpretation. (If one doubts this, try to think of more than a handful of specific ways in which Tolkien himself distinguished Legolas from other elves or Gimli from other dwarfs (or Merry from Pippin, for that matter)).
And it is not an event story - so Jackson can be granted a certain (again, not unlimited) license with the events in the book. (If you think LOTR is a plot-driven story, then ask yourself why the book's story continues for over a hundred pages after the fate of the ring is resolved!)
The Lord of the Rings is a milieu story and in a milieu story (of this genre) what counts - in the final analysis - is the ability to present a believable and fascinating secondary world.
And Peter Jackson's Middle Earth is 'realistic' in character, event and setting. In the course of three hours the balance of script, acting, costumes, special effects, cinematography, etc. work together to move the audience from mere spectators to involved participants. I care about Jackson's Middle Earth (and its inhabitants) as I care about Tolkien's.

As a Tolkien fan (though hardly a fanatic), I found many flaws in the movie version of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Most of those flaws are posted in other reviews on this site.
But, bottom line, the cast and crew have lovingly and successfully created a compelling Middle Earth in which dwarves and elves, hobbits and wizards, Gondor, Rivendale and Barad-Dur are real.
If you're looking for a wooden rendition of the book in which the root cause of Merry and Pippin's decision to follow Frodo into exile is presented in depth, you will be disappointed (though the movie shows an extraordinary respect for its literary source).
And if you're looking for a hack and slash action movie, you will be disappointed (though the movie is certainly eventful).
But if you are the kind of person who can sit back for three hours and let Jackson's Middle Earth unfold (and walk away contented and at peace after the movie ends in the middle of nowhere! :-), then this movie is for you.
It's going to be a long two years...
Ten out of ten stars on this one.