Stunning.

Rating: 10/10 (19 December 2003)

I'm not sure I can add much to what many of the comments here are saying. This is part three of a three part epic, and in my opinion the complete package is the best single movie ever made.
Just as in the books, almost every loose end is wrapped up. We all knew that good would eventually triumph over evil, but watching it evoked strong emotions. I still have the uncanny sense that Peter Jackson somehow managed to take cameras TO MIDDLE EARTH and film the actual events as they unfolded.
And, more than this, I pity those few who don't "get" these movies.
In Fellowship, I had tears in my eyes at the loss of Gandalf. Sure, he comes back, but the characters don't know that!
(possible spoiler, next paragraph only)
In Return of the King, I had tears in my eyes at a couple of moments. My favorite single moment was when Aragorn said "My friends, You bow to no one", followed by the entire host of men bowing to the hobbits. The scene where the Eagles pull Sam and Frodo to safety almost had me bawling, it was so beautifully crafted, and SO reminiscent of the original art in the Tolkien books.
I believed that Minas Tirith existed, that somehow they managed to build the entire city as the world's largest movie set. Stunning.
Unfortunately, the movies are not perfect, but what is RIGHT so outweighs what isn't perfect that I won't even bother trying to detail everything. One day, CG will be better. The transitions into and out of computer animation are seamless, but the CG characters flop around unrealistically. They also have sticky feet that allow them to stand on moving monsters without effort. Niggles, and it doesn't detract from the story.
Personally, I would have liked to have seen more at Cirith Ungol, more about the end of Saruman, and the Scouring of the Shire. But hey, the Extended DVD will have this, and I can wait. Barely.
I must have been one of the luckiest moviegoers this week.
I managed to see this movie in a packed theater, with absolutely NO sound problems, no picture problems, and complete (actually spooky) silence from the audience at the silent parts. Nobody laughed at an inappropriate moment, nothing.
I'm assuming that the majority of people who would go through the effort of standing in line for 45 minutes to get a ticket, another hour in line to get into the theater, and enduring the 26 minutes of ads prior to the actual movie would be serious fans of the series.