The biggest thrill ride of 2001

Rating: 10/10 (7 May 2003)

Rated PG-13
Chihiro_Sen15's Score: 9.6 out of 10

J.R.R. Tolkien still remains one of the best fantasy authors of the 20th century and "The Fellowship of the Ring" has now become one of the best fantasy film of all time. After reading "The Lord of the Rings" about 3 months before the movie was released, it still amazes and surprises me, both novel and film. Peter Jackson is one brave filmmaker and proved to be an excellent one at that after this beautiful movie.
"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" tells of the hobbit Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) who inherits a ring from his elderly cousin Bilbo (Ian Holm). However, this is no ordinary ring. It's the One Ring, forged by the Dark Lord Sauron to control Middle-Earth. But the Ring was taken from him and he is searching far and wide for the ring that'll help him enslave the world. Guided by the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellan), Frodo recruits a fellowship of men, a dwarf, an elf and three fellow hobbits to help him against Sauron and his minions.
"The Fellowship of the Ring" does complete justice to Tolkien's original work. Jackson flawlessly combines Tolkien's themes with all the important story elements (Fans will notice Bombadil is missing) but knows how to make a great movie out of them, compared to the more workmanship job on the fluffier fantasy "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone". As far as the script goes, there are one or two scenes which I would stray away from dialogue. They're a bit over-scripted, particularly in Hobbiton. But this is only 1/3 of the trilogy, and there's quite a lot of exposition here.
Acting wise, the film does what it needs to do. Wood's Frodo is very good, and did better than what I expected him to do. One awkward line somewhat hurts him a bit. But Ian McKellan's Gandalf, on the other hand, is worth the money you spend to see this movie. His performance as Magneto in X-Men gave audiences the assurance that he can play fantasy characters, but Gandalf was just stunning. The cast also includes Viggo Mortensen as the human Aragorn, and Sean Bean as Boromir. The human characters are fleshed out real well, and Boromir particularly was more of a three-dimensional character than in the books. Others include Orlando Bloom as the elf Legolas, John Rhys-Davies as Gimli the dwarf and Sean Astin, Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan as Frodo's hobbit friends. All of these actors portray their characters extremely well.
Visually, the film is a grand feast. "The Fellowship of the Ring" won the Best Visual Effects Oscar and there's no denying it's win. It is a great mix of live action and CGI, some of the best I've ever seen. "Fellowship" is simply beautiful in visual effects and in it's production. The sets and the scenery have a certain realistic texture to it that seperates it from many other movies. Jackson has created a world that is totally believable and feels like you're actually there. And that is probably the highest compliment I can give the visuals.
"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" works wonderfully, on a technical level and on adapting Tolkien's original novel to the screen. It's entertaining and enthralling as it is deep, perfectly translating Tolkien's themes on screen. It isn't the best movie I've ever seen, due to some pacing problems, but what is one screen works on the whole, and Jackson does a near perfect job at a first time live-action "Lord of the Rings" film. But this is only 1/3 of the way there, and I'm extremely anticipating the final hour.