Sees movie as uplifting, inspiring, greatest ever

Rating: 10/10 (26 December 2003)

I attended The Return of The King with my two teenage sons and one of their friends. While walking out of the theater, my 17 year old son asked me if I had cried in the movie. I replied: "Before I answer that I want to ask you a question. Did watching this movie make you want to be a better person?" He replied in the affirmative. I then told him that I had cried throughout the last 30 minutes of the film. This surprised him since he had been watching me to see if I was crying and it had been well hidden. No audible sobs or visible tears that were telltale signs, but believe me, my heart was in my throat and eyes were misty for a solid 30 minutes. Also at many other times in the film the same thing happened. And during those many times, if anyone had tried to get me to talk to them I would have been unable to. What had me so misty eyed and choked up? The bravery and genuine goodness of the characters, just as Tolkien had depicted them in his books. Also the reaffirmation of the fact that good will always triumph in the end, in spite of current appearances.
I am in my mid fifties and have seen maybe two or three thousand movies in my lifetime, and this is now #1 and will be for some time. It not only uplifted me and made me want to be a better person - more selfless like Frodo and Sam,Aragorn, Theoden and the rest. But it did the same for my two sons, and this is worth a lot to me.
The scenery was breathtaking, the acting superb, the storyline almost as true to the books as could be done in a movie this short. Hope more true in the extended version.
In my opinion, the best movie ever made.