Very Good, but...

Rating: 7/10 (11 January 2005)

Alas, not having read the novel, I was very excited when I saw the trilogy. A great spectacle, indeed. The great adventure-and great expectations...were all realized...
But.... As I look back on it, this film is a huge achievement, but that's the problem for me. Big spectacular sfx and complicated scoring distract from the story at times. And although action and acting are carried out here on a fine story-telling scheme, I was left a bit empty. For me, the emotional trek was always not "who is going to live or die?", but "how much computer power was needed?".
Fantasy films can be bit overdone and full of themselves, and I suspect that this is somewhat the case here.
For real, human drama, sans all the cgi and such, see what I thought was the best film of 2003...Mystic River...