What film making should be all about

Rating: 9/10 (28 December 2001)

I loved this film. I felt I was right there in Middle-Earth, like I'd gone on a journey with the characters. It felt like the movie was made for me and not for a bunch of suits with bottom lines their main priorities. The respect for the source was there, but also much more evident was the sheer joy in film making, the pleasure of the medium itself. The thing had an energy and life of its own. Very rare for a blockbuster, still more rare for a film which basically has to sell the next two as well.

For that reason I am prepared to forgive the (minor) flaws it has, as I don't think a better job could have been done of what must be the most monumental gamble ever taken on by Hollywood. How wonderful to see it pay off so well. Congratulations to Peter Jackson and the cast and crew, but also to New Line for putting it out there. Fellowship of the Ring will be remembered long after this year's formulaic rip-money-off-audience-here blockbusters (Pearl Harbor etc) have fallen into oblivion.

Studios take note - playing it safe does not generate magic. This is magic. Enchanting, entertaining, exciting, endearing. What more can you ask of a film?