Great movie but wasn't a 10

Rating: 9/10 (4 January 2004)

First, on behalf of my family who are LOTR fans, thanks to Peter Jackson and his crew for making our dream come true. Your tremendous efforts in staying true with the books, creativities and the special effects are beyond the Tolkien fans' expectation. (Spoilers ahead!!!) I especially like the following: the lighting of the beacons scene, the artistic scene of Denethor eating intertwined with Faramir riding into battle with Pippin singing. It's beautiful and heartening! The horse riding and the background scenes were 'picture-perfect'. Minas Tirith is every bit real as I have imagined it. Frodo and Sam's struggle to reach Mount Doom was realistic and we could feel the power of the ring which dramatically deteriorated the hobbit. The fight between Frodo and Golum in Mt. Doom was much better in the movie than in the book. My 9 year old son loves the speeches, especially the one Aragorn made at the Black Gate. However, I have a bone or two to pick with PJ: The movie was lack of the emotional relationship and bonding of other characters such as Eowyn and Faramir or Legolas and Gimli. While the movie showed the internal struggles that Faramir and Eowyn faced individually, their love with one another was never developed and no closures were done for both of them except for the 1 second flip at the crowning of the king; The battle scenes were too long! Let's face it, how many oliphaunts can you kill! The paths of death and the arrival of the ships to rescue Minas Tirith were weak; Whatever happened to the Mouth of Sauron showing Frodo's Mithril shirt to the fellowship? It was a powerful message in the book! The reunion of the fellowship was too much like the first movie. Legolas and Gimli didn't have much to say in the movie while their bond was much strengthened in the book. That said, I gave it a 9 after my third viewing. I can't wait for the extended version and hope there will be more.