The adaption is considerably better than the book...

Rating: 8/10 (5 January 2003)

contains spoilers
Once again, Peter Jackson & crew have made a very enjoyable and suspenseful movie out of a very dry and uneventful book. Yes indeed, I've read the books and although they certainly were epic and imaginative, I also found them to be dry, filled with unnecessary descriptions, and boring.

The movie manages to take exactly those parts of the book that are the most interesting, while adding some action and humor here and there to make the movie more appealing to large audiences. While Tolkien purists will likely be upset about (among others) the fact that Gimli has been turned into a comedian, I really liked it. Things like that are simply necessary to keep the casual movie-goer interested.
On top of that, Gollem is absolutely brilliant. The scene in which he (it?) talks to himself is amazing, and the whole Frodo/Gollem relation is done very well, even if Frodo remains a whining little brat. I'm not sure about the whole Aragorn/Arwen "romance", the movie could have done without that, and should instead have focused more on characters like Gandalf and Legolas, who get very little screen time.
In terms of plot, there are a couple of points where the movie screws up a little. For example, TWICE we have somebody who was presumably dead return to the land of the living, and there are a bit too much coincidences and lucky escapes in the plot. I'm not exactly sure to which extent this is due to the source material and which part was the "fault" of the script writers, though.
While this movie is by no means perfect (especially not in terms of story), it's still a very suspenseful, epic and spectacular film. Definitely worth watching.
*** out of **** stars