Stunning, Awe-inspiring, but not perfect.

Rating: 9/10 (3 January 2002)

If I hadn't read the books beforehand, I might have given this movie a 10. Judging it solely on its own merits, it easily deserves that mark. Everybody I've spoken with who has seen the film, but not read the books agrees with me on that point. Peter Jackson has created an incredible piece of work in this film. From the Stunning vistas of the Mountains of Mist, to the awesome caverns of Moria, to the fearsome Balrog, to the natural beauty of Rivendell, to the tranquility of the Shire, Jackson has captured the spirit of Tolkien's books almost perfectly. The characters were amazing, at times showing more depth than I felt even the books portrayed. I was thoroughly blown away by this movie, and would recommend it to anybody. (With appropriate remarks about viewer discretion. . . this is NOT a kids movie!)
That said, Jackson makes three unforgivably poor choices in regards to the translation of the books to the screen.
(**********************************) (*** Possible spoilers. Beware ***) (**********************************)
Lothlorien in general, and Galadriel in particular were horrendously poor. Jackson edits out Gimli's stunned admiration of Galadriel, an important part of the story, as it brings him and Legolas together. and Galadriel's temptation scene is laughably, infuriatingly, BAD. This woman is powerful, intimidating, and above all GOOD! Jackson makes her almost an evil character.
Arwen's character is hopelessly trite and boring beyond belief. The romance between her and Aragorn (which exists only in passing reference in the books) smacks of Hollywood's overblown sense of sentimentality, and her replacement of other more interesting characters such as Glorfindel, is IMHO, not wise.
And Elrond's council is just stupid. All the characters lose any sense of dignity by the end, and the party's sudden swing from a near revolt at the possibility of ANYONE taking the ring, to unanimous support of Frodo (a relative unknown) is preposterously unmotivated, and hopelessly sappy.
But one weak scene per hour is not a bad average, and the rest of the movie MORE than compensates for any momentary shortcomings. To those who are new to the Lord of the Rings . . . see it, and enjoy every minute of it. To LOTR fans . . . see it, enjoy it, and take the bad parts with a grain of salt. Congrats to Peter Jackson for a fine piece of work.