Rating: 
Summary: Emotional and engaging. A great piece of work.
Review: Okay. Where do I start? Here. I have only read The Lord Of The Rings one time. Was it good? Yes. Do I care that things have been trimmed from the book? No. Why, you ask? Because this film retains the spirit and feeling of Tolkien's work and is vastly entertaining on it's own. Even with a lot of things cut, as they had to be for a three hour film, this thing is a grand achivement on a truly epic scale.The acting- This really got to me. Everybody here did a great job. Ian McKellan (Gandalf) and Christopher Lee (Saruman) just OOZED with a great chemistry and screen prescence, with Gandalf wise and sometimes funny, while Saruman is dark and cunning and utterly ruthless. He had an air of power and command that Christopher Lee pulled off VERY well. Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) was appropriately regal though her part was not as big as the others. Everybody else fit just right. The emotion was genuine and did not feel forced. The dialogue worked extremely well and was delivered convinvincingly. I also loved the fact that the characters SPOKE Elvish with subtitles, rather than speaking English with made-up and funny sounding accents. It made the words feel more real to me. It gave it the air of a real language. The Special Effects- These were incredible. Especially considering that all three movies were shot with a $ million budget. That's $ million per movie folks. Yet they make worlds and characters and locations and things that are 100% believable. I will NOT compare this to Star Wars Episode II or say that it was better effects-wise. The biggest comparison I will make is to put them on par with and equal to each other. They are each THAT good, and each is an example of absolute mastery of the craft of special effects wizardry. They are two different movies, two different stories, and depict different things, therefore they need different elements. The important thing is that each film convincingly takes you to another world and draws you into a very engaging and emotional story. From script to screen The Lord Of The Rings is an excellent achievement. The Music- Kudos to Howard Shore for making this score. From first note to last it is beautiful. It expertly dances between tense and dramatic, to lovely and ethereal, to rousing and adventurous and back again. The use of the choir work here is brilliant. It really adds to the emotion of the scenes on the screen. Also, though I personally prefer the music of Enya's cousins (Clannad) to that of Enya herself, I cannot deny that Enya made a beautiful contribution to the score of this movie. It is an absolute masterpiece. I think that while he is not John Williams, Howard Shore has earned the right to be favorably compared to him and put in his illustrious company by the merit of this breathtaking musical score. I look forward to more from him in the future. In short, if you love or even just like fantasy films, you cannot go wrong with this one. It is a visit to a breathtaking world, filled with aventure, humor, tenderness and suspense. It has something for everyone. I LOVED this picture and you just might love it too. Peace and God bless you. Enjoy it. Happy viewing. :)
Rating: 
Summary: Great set!
Review: The film speaks for itself, so I won't comment on it. I will comment on the DVD features and extras that come with the film on this, the extended version ("director's cut"). First, the extra scenes really add much to the story line. The best of them (the following is a spoiler, so if you don't like spoilers, stop reading now!) in my opinion, is the extended scenes from Lothlorien, which follow the book more closely. The gift scene I thought inestimable and am surprised it was thrown out of the theatrical version (also, where's Sam's box of dirt?). We see a more ethereal Galadriel, but there's also times where she appears more "down to earth" than before (ie, when she laughs). I also thought the scene between Boromir and Aragorn on the side of the river at night VERY important to the story simply because it makes Boromir's death-bed confessions to Aragorn more pertinent and meaningful ("our people... my king"). I'm also surprised that scene was tossed. For those that do not know every scene by heart of the theatrical version, you may not notice but the extended version is slightly more violent (the head uruk-hai actually licks his own blood from the knife that Aragorn stuck into his thigh before he throws it back at Aragorn). There are extra shots of Legolas dumping off arrows (at great speed - was that CGI?) at the uruk-hai, and the final battle of Boromir and Merry/Pippin is somewhat longer and more violent. The extra disks are great; they far outshadow the extra CD on the theatrical version (which I feel was just a teaser for the extended cut). All of the methods of making the hobbits appear smaller are explained (CGI, forced perspective, miniture doubles, etc.). I especially thought the interviews with the sound crew especially insightful (the cave troll's inhales were taken from a tiger, the chuffing exhales recorded from a lynx, and the moaning from a walrus; The Watcher's vocal was also recorded from a walrus; the Balrog's vocal was recorded by dragging cinder blocks across the pavement and then slowing the sound down). VERY GOOD EXTRAS ON THE BONUS DVDs. The only complaint I have is that the film is on two disks. This problem arose because of the extensive audio tracks and commentaries. Frankly, I think the audio commentaries are overkill because one can learn from the bonus DVDs everything that is said in the running commentaries. They probably could have just kept the film on one DVD with only one or two commentary tracks and allowed the viewer to learn from the extra DVDs. (This is especially perturbing if you watch this film in a DVD player that only holds 1 disk). All in all, I recommend picking this set up and throwing your old theatrical version up for auction.
Rating:
Summary: Lost in the Rings of Fantasy
Review: The movie was excellent. I had read the book (3) times and whatever the movie could not fit in length of time I remembered and filled the details in myself. The characters were captivating and you were drawn to them. Each had their own individual strengths that pulled you through the movie and left you with the need for more.
Within the "Relm of Man" .. we are allowed to escape for a little while through movies and the magic of the Lord of the Rings allows this happen.
Rating:
Summary: Mastering the Masterful Masterpeice
Review: What can I say... The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is the most extraordionary and most astounding film ever created. Story, sound, cinematograghy, music, special effects and acting are all extraordinary. It's the best film ever created, far better than Oscar Winner, A Beautiful Mind. This film should have won all of it's nominations. This DVD will definitly be the prized possesion of my DVD collection. I cannot wait till the second film will come out and also the Special Extended Edition of the movie. The score by Howard Shore is one of the best I've ever heard. Better than some of my favorite composer John Williams, has made. This is a masterpeice that you will want to experience over and over again.
Rating:
Summary: Overall breathtaking vision but some minor irritations
Review: Firstly the Dvds extra disc really seems a non-event, for the ammount of useful material it could and should have been fite onto one disk, there was a lot missing, and it seems to serve the purpose of flogging the next 4 disc set and the next film, the documentary was ok, but frankly extras lite.
On first watching at the cinema i was distinctly underwhelmed and the film really didnt make much of an impression. On watching the Dvd ive got used to this translation so could relax into it a little more.
The biggest annoyance by far is merry and pippin, they have become bumbling prat fallguys, and even the music whenever they start providing sideshow relief is cringing, this is not such a good traslation to say the least.
Unlike some i found Legolas one of the better played parts, along with Sean Bean, who i was hoping when i read the original casting was going to be Aragorn, he would have been so much better, mind you Hugo Weaving as Legolas would have been a big improvement, but i welcome his prescence as Elrond, even if hes underused.
The computer effects work overall but some time a litlle unsubtle. The sets and costumes are mind blowing, and the New Zealand locations are perfect, Hobbiton hit the nail on the head for me, if only the hobbits were played with a little less twee comedy, we really dont need light relief Mr Jackson.
Rating:
Summary: A classic? Almost. The good, the bad, the shortcomings
Review: First off, I want to say that I enjoyed this movie more than I thought I would and found it better than I'd expected, with wonderful special effects and a clear attempt to be faithful to Tolkien's structure and plot. This was not just another Hollywood vehicle but a serious effort - from the casting to the script. So credit is due for that much.
But I still found some significant shortcomings in the movie. I felt that the book's emotional and spititual essence did not reverberate through this movie. Perhaps this was simply because this was an "introductory" movie, one of only several to follow and the director felt that the plot needed to be emphasized. But I didn't find myself thinking about this movie for days nor did I find that it had an emotional resonance, the kind of resonance that makes you want to see the movie again and again (just as I wanted to re-read the books). There were a few words of wisdom that stood out but, for the most part, it seemed as though emphasis was given to action and adventures at the loss of characterization.
I know there are plenty out there who will disagree with me and I can certainly agree that Hollywood could have done worse. Elijah Wood is a warm and winning Frodo and others in the cast are equally appealing - to a point. But I urge viewers to think carefully about what makes a movie a classic, especially movies which have elements of fantasy. I'd argue that there has to be something enduring, a movie that goes beyond state of the art special effects and spectacle and gives equal weight to Tolkien's words, language and enduring soul. I didn't quite find that depth in this movie.
Rating:
Summary: AWESOME!
Review: THis is the best movie I have ever seen!!!!! It is totally awesome! The story has you on the edge of your seat! And to top it off there was NOTHING bad in it! I HIGHLY recommend this!!
Rating:
Summary: The Lord of the Rings--Fellowship of the Ring
Review: Great, terrific! The extra material provided with this DVD set gives lots of facinating information about the making of the three movies.
Rating: 
Summary: Pitiful rendition of book
Review: So much is left out, you cannot even follow the movie.
Rating:
Summary: A Travesty
Review: Great cinemaphotography, lush scenery, and great action scenes cannot and do not make up for the grevious deviations from the fundamentals of the story, plot and especially characterization. One reviewer noted that Peter Jackson did not show slavish devotion to the text and that is certainly true and understably so when taking such an epic and putting it onscreen, however at least trying to be somewhat true to the text would have been appreciated. Would it have killed the director to make the Council of Elrond a little more true and cerebral rather than a first grade shouting match. Aragorn is not the tortured soul in exile Jackson supposes him to be and what is the problem with him carrying the shards of Narsil? And the ridiculous stunts Saruman gets up to....words defy me and what was Galadriel on? And Arwen, a playful elf? Please! I agree that by movie making standards it is a great movie. I am pleased that it did not win best picture however, because although Peter Jackson has come closer than anyone else in putting Tolkien's epic on-screen he should have paid a bit more attention to the text, especially when it came to characterization, but then again getting characters right has never been his strong point.
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