Definitely enjoyable.

Rating: 10/10 (23 January 2003)

Having never read the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I can very safely say that my rating will be as a person who is rating this as a movie, and little more than a movie.
In general, the movie was absolutely terrific. I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. The acting was wonderful, and dialogue that would have otherwise been somewhat cheesy, simply wasn't, because I think the acting really did cover up for it.
The special effects were out of this world. The last Helm's Deep battle sequence was absolutely glorious, and it's a surprise I managed to stay in my seat all throughout. I felt like I wanted to join them and kill a few Uruk-Hai! Simply marvellous.
The revival of King Theoden, however, seemed kind of hurried... as if there was a "fix him up and get over with it" attitude with the writer.
The Ents were wonderful. Amazing CG used to make them... but underdeveloped as I hear from some other reviewers. Having not read the book, I didn't understand the gravity of their going into battle... but knowing the time constraints of cinema halls who want the maximum number of viewings in a day, I sympathize with Peter Jackson's dilemma. Maybe he saved something for us in the Extended Edition.
Gollum is a true work of art. Having heard that CG artists were studying anatomy to get Gollum's structure up, I was really curious to see him, and it's true. I think they truly did study anatomy. Jar-Jar, for example, seemed totally amorphous, as if he had cartilage for bones, in Star Wars: Episode 1. Dobbie (or Dobby, or whatever) from the second Harry Potter is somewhat, slightly (only slightly) comparable in CG art to Gollum, but then... Gollum was a magnificently developed character and was probably the most complex character in the entire movie. Gollum deserves an Academy Award, actually!
That's a nice development in the movie industry, I think. CG characters are now given... character! Before they were just there for the eye candy, like with Jar-Jar Binks, who I didn't quite find as irritating as some people would say, but he just wasn't really relevant. But Gollum... marvellous.

Maybe that's where Peter Jackson missed out with the Ents? Maybe he forgot to develop them as part of the drama because he knew they were going to be all CG? Maybe not. We'll have to see in the Extended Edition. Oh my, it's going to be a long wait. It was long enough with the Fellowship.
I thoroughly enjoyed it, though. It was a human endeavour beyond any scale yet to be attempted, and so I greet a human effort with human enthusiasm. They say Helm's Deep took three months of night-time shootings in the mountains of New Zealand? They definitely deserve the credit.