My new favorite movie!

Rating: 10/10 (26 December 2001)

I saw this movie with my husband, also a huge JRR Tolkien fan, and we both positively loved it. The music simply transports you away into Middle-Earth, and the theme is beautiful and will surely remind people of the movie, just as the Star Wars theme takes you back to a galaxy far, far away and the Gone With the Wind theme evokes memories of the Old South. Then there's the acting. Elijah Wood IS Frodo Baggins. There is no other way to put it. The expressions on his face let you feel his joy, his grief, and his fear. Orlando Bloom, Ian McKellan, and Viggo Mortenson do magnificently as well. The effects are also amazing. Who would have guessed that Gollum was entirely computer generated? The balrog and the Watcher in the Water are also very scary, and the Eye of Sauron is just plain terrifying.
2 things that I think could have been better: the developing friendship of Legolas and Gimli is not portrayed at all in the movie; maybe it will be more so in The Two Towers. Also, if you haven't read the books, you will miss a lot of details throughout. You will still understand the story, but you miss a lot of fun stuff.
All in all, a fantastic movie. My new favorite!