Amazing Journey

Rating: 10/10 (20 December 2001)

Power can be held in the smallest of things.
This film is the best I have seen so far this year. I remember when I was eleven years old I watched a cartoon with the weirdest animation at that time which completely fascinated me. The cartoon was called The Hobbit.
J.R.R.Tolkein wrote the books which this film is based on. This film is the beginning of the trilogy. The second and third films will be released the week of Christmas in 2002 and 2003 respectively (The Two Towers and The Return of the King).All three films were filmed back to back to back. In the years between releases they are doing re-writes and editing.
The Lord of the Rings is a very complicated yet simple story told very well by director Peter Jackson, best known for The Frighteners(which flopped). The subject matter is the most imaginary, creative, far fetched fantasy world ever attempted to be put on film. There are elves, dwarves, hobbits, dark lords, humans, dragons, you name the imaginary character, it's in this film.
Elijah Wood heads the cast as a hobbit on a mission. Wood turns in a fine performance as he has in his previous work(The Good Son and Deep Impact). Sir Ian McKellen and Viggo Mortensen are probably the best known supporting cast besides Liv Tyler. They all do great jobs in this movie. The acting is not what makes this a great movie, believe me it does help. However it is the storyline and the way it is presented, the excellent direction, the enormous set designs, the landscape(filmed entirely in New Zealand), music score, wardrobe and the lastly the special effects. Peter Jackson covers and takes care of the little details which Tolkein purist should appreciate. When you combine all of those qualities used in this film, you believe Tolkein's characters have been brought to life.
I'm not a Tolkein purist by any stretch. I'm sure there are those that will say after seeing this film it variates from the book some, if it didn't the movie would be 6 hours instead of 3. It did not matter to me, the film is a true escape from reality. To me movies are meant to do a few things: Entertain (make you laugh, cry or both Enlighten (make you think) Make you forget your troubles(take you to another world)
Obviously all films don't do this, but this one does film does all of the above.
It is not for anyone under 13, there many violent battle scenes and disturbing images for the faint of heart.
RC