Not really satisfying.

Rating: 8/10 (2 July 2004)

Oddly, Tolkien's wonderful book(s), which seemed to create that all-important sense of "this matters" when read, did not translate for me to a "this matters" experience when on the screen. The movie(s) did a masterful job of rendering both the scenery and the characters. But, I had to ask myself, "If this were not based on Tolkien, would I care about the story at all?"
It's amazing and puzzling to me that they don't stand on their own. The book certainly does, and this series of films is rather faithful to that text. Still, for reasons I cannot fathom, I enjoyed the eye-candy, but not the story.
If you love LoTR, you must see these films. But, to be honest, they would never have gained much of an audience, I think, without the connection to their famous progenitor.