Not as good as the books, but as good as can be expected

Rating: 9/10 (7 March 2002)

All right, here's my two cents on the Lord of the Rings Movie.
Before we get down to bare bones, I must admit something in complete honesty. I first read the Lord of the Rings when I was seven years old. It was a book that changed my life, expanded my mind, and made me want to be a writer as well. I've reread it at least half a dozen times since, always finding something new that made me think and appreciate the trilogy all over again. So, in all honesty I would be impossible to satisfy completely, no matter how good the movie is.
Just to be a gentleman, (no snickering please), I'll go over the good things in the movie first. Beyond good is Ian McKellan's performance as Gandalf. It was better than I could have expected, and nobody could have done it better. Also excellent is the scenery used, whether it's the Shire, Rivendell, Moria or Lothlorien. Most of the performances for the members of the Fellowship are also good; Sean Astin is nearly perfect as the determined, lovable, sometimes bumbling Sam Gamgee. Elijah Woods, not my favorite actor by any stretch of the imagination, did a decent job as Frodo. He came across as a little wishy-washy, but one can always hope for improvement in the following movies. Merry and Pippin came across well on screen, although they changed Merry's character into a virtual clone of Pippin, something he was not in the book. Orlando Bloom captured Legolas perfectly; everything from the way he moves, talks, and fights is exactly as it should be. Christopher Lee does quite well as Saruman, although he is perhaps given a little too screen time and weight this early in the story. The special effects, particularly in Moria and Isengard, but also elsewhere, are just about perfect. Also, I was surprised by the performance of Liv Tyler. I've always felt her acting ability to be anywhere from fair, (at best), to downright awful, but she did well in the role of Arwen Evenstar and gave some meat to the role.
Next are the things I'm indifferent to. This includes Viggo Mortensen playing Aragon. Sorry, but he's just not it. Maybe it's because the only other role I've ever seen him in is Lucifer in The Prophecy, but he's just not Strider to. He captures the rougher side well enough, but lacks the nobility and even majesty that made Aragon one of the greatest forces in Middle-Earth even with no more than the clothes on his back. A younger Liam Neeson, perhaps from the Rob Roy days or even a little earlier would have been much better. The scene for the council of Elrond could have been better. The scene is a crucial one in the book, and is presented as an intelligent conversation on several levels between many different people, and also serves the function of introducing the reader to the larger picture in Middle Earth, letting us see the tide of great events taking place apart from the Fellowship's travels. This is completely left out in the movie, and is instead presented as a childish squabble that made me, at least, want to slap everyone present for it. The parts of Boromir and Gimli were overblown a bit in the way they were presented. Also, I have to wonder where Jackson came up with Elrond's seeming loathing of humans, something definitely not in the books.
Now we come the stuff I flat out hated. Number one being the scenes with Galadriel. Oh my God, but Jackson screwed that whole sequence up! Instead of being wise, serene, and knowing Galadriel came off as a melodramatic witch who seemed more like an enemy of the Fellowship than an ally. Particularly bad were the mirror scene and the temptation of Galadriel with the ring. And when I say bad, I don't just mean awkward or overdone, as many parts were, but hands on your ears, eyes averted in horror bad. I watched this movie twice at the theaters, and the second time I lied about having to go to the bathroom just to avoid seeing this part. This is particular painful for me because I loved the interaction with Galadriel in the book and the foreshadowing of the end of the Elves. The second thing I hate is much more general. This is the modern clichÃ©s that were thrown in. The best examples being Galadriel's line about how "Even the smallest person can change the world" (oh, how inspiring!), Boromir's kissing up to Aragorn while he's dying, and Gimli's "Let's go hunt some orcs!" line. These represented to me a larger problem that seemed somewhat evident through the whole movie, a certain lack of faith in the books, or that the books alone were enough. Many of the moments in the book that had real heart or that were truly touching were changed and often overdone so that instead of a quiet premise or atmosphere we get it driven home with a sledgehammer. To me, this amounts to a subtle, well-meaning betrayal of the story. And for all those who bring out the tired argument that things have to dumbed down or simplified for people who haven't read the books or are new to the story, well, we were all new to the story at some point or another, and managed just fine!
In short, I guess I have to say that the movie wasn't as good as I could have hoped for, but was definitely better than I feared it might be. It gets a 7.5 out of 10.