Tremendous, but perhaps overly faithful

Rating: Null/10 (31 December 2003)

There doesn't seem to be much point to rehashing the plot, since you've probably seen it, but let me say this. SPOILERS!!!! Emotionally, the movie should have ended after the "No one bows to you" finale, which I believe is not in the book and may be ripped off from "Mulan". However, Jackson clearly wanted to be faithful to the book, which does end with Frodo leaving Middle Earth. This is a bittersweet ending, not an entirely happy one. Also, when Aragorn kissed Arwen, and everybody clapped, it was like the dopey ending of "Titanic". In the book, Eomer and Faramir wind up together, which is I presume why they are standing together at the end. I'm guessing the DVD may shed more light on this. Let's not forget that the movie left out the whole "Houses of Healing" and "Scouring of the Shire" chapters; the picture could have been even longer. My theory is that New Line told Jackson that the first 2 films could not exceed 3 hours, but let him go whole hog on the third, since he made them so much money. Also, this is a silly thing, but I liked the way the credits ran illustrations of every actor and what character he played. It seemed like a nice sendoff.