One of the few truly epic fantasy films...

Rating: 9/10 (7 November 2003)

Definitely Peter Jackson's best work to date, in fact I am quite surprised that he actually pulled this off as well as he did. All of the acting is top notch, the story is very involving (although it was slightly modified from the books), and the biggest thing that stands out is this movie are the visuals. From special effects, camera effects to shot locations, everything is amazing. I know many people were worried that because they weren't going to use ILM that the special effects would ruin the movie. Quite the opposite, these special effects are more realistic than the new Star Wars movies could ever hope to achieve.
A friend of mine who hadn't read any of the books went to see it with me and I think he probably enjoyed it more than I did. But for me, being a fan of the books and the director, I can say that this is one of the best movies I have seen all year.
I did think that there was more of an emphasis on visuals and effects than developing the characters or the story, but it's so well done that I didn't really mind. Overall I give the movie ***1/2 out of four stars.