Good movie but parents should take caution!

Rating: 8/10 (21 December 2001)

I read the book in the weeks preceding the movie and I'm glad I did. Even though the movie is 3 hours long, most of the characters cannot be developed to the degree they are in the book. For example, the relationship between Gimli (a dwarf) and Legolas (an elf) evolves in a very significant way in the book and you don't pick up on it in the movie. Other characters in the book were left out completely. Some of the names of people and places are confusing and the distinctions are easy to miss in the movie. For example, Sauron and Saruman sound alike and are both evil characters in the story.
As a parent, I would caution you against taking a younger child. I took my 15 and 13 year old children, but not my 10 year old child. There are a lot of scary looking creatures and much violent fighting. Overall, the movie has a dark feel to it. Although the movie portrayed scenes that were in the book, I think we spent too much time viewing some of the evil characters and not enough time on some of the lighter elements of the book.
Overall, I rated it an 8 out of 10 and would recommend it to others with the above cautions. I will not buy the video/DVD because I have young children who do not need to see some of the images. But I will read them the story because their own imaginations will not be nearly so violent and graphic.