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The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring (Full Screen Edition)

The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring (Full Screen Edition)

List Price: $29.95
Your Price: $22.46
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Epic
Review: From the captivating prologue to the moving and emotional Breaking of the Fellowship, this movie takes you on an epic adventure that astounds you with its scope while managing to keep the characters from being overshadowed by the landscape - and sheer size - of this film. I was hooked from the beginning as Galadriel begins her Elvish narration. The Fellowship of the Ring has profound themes that were a breath of fresh air. Don't see this film if you don't want to think. As soon as I saw it, I read the Lord of the Rings trilogy two times through, back to back, and then tackled the Silmarillion. I was completely drawn into this magnificent world.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This is a MUST OWN for any movie lover!
Review: From the first moments of The Fellowship Of The Ring, I was completely immersed in the story. The characters and storyline followed J.R.R. Tolkien's book nearly to the letter. The sets and backgrounds were fantastic, in fact, I felt as if Rivendell actually existed!

Because of the quality of this movie, I can't wait until the sequels release!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Only the best DVD ever...
Review: From the minute I received my FotR Extended DVD Collector's Edition from the UPS man (Go Brown!!), I knew this DVD was awesome. The pictures of the DVD packaging on the web don't do the DVD justice. It's awesome. The movie itself is totally different, not justice a new scene here or there, but almost every scene has some new line or shot in it. And of course, totally new scenes are their as well, mainly the new intro, more of the Council of Elrond, and the Gift-Giving in Lothlorien.
The Special Features are what set this DVD apart, I'm still wading through them. This DVD is fantastic, it's great. Buy it at all costs. And if you're deciding wheither to buy the Star Wars: AOTC DVD or this, buy this. You'll thank my later.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Amazing!
Review: From the moment that the film starts you know that this is going to be good, From the detaling of the hobbits feet to scenary. There are some very good actors in this film such as Elijha Wood (frodo Baggins) to sean Astin (SamWise Gamgie).
The story is very good so i recommend this to anyone of any age!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Perfect
Review: From the surprising opening to Hobbiton, to Bree, to Rivendell, to Caradrhas, to Moria, to Lorien, to Anduin...Perfect visually in every way...Aragorn's power will be revealed in time..The Hobbits themselves were the best part, and the interaction with 'standard' sized mortals and elves was incredible...Ian McClellan(sp?) was the perfect choice for Gandalf, as Laurence Olivier is no longer available...

The best part was the adherence to the verbatim text on occasion...The maps on Bilbo's table...The horror of the enemy...the beauty and rusticity of the Shire...The interactions of the hobbits...

The expansion of Saruman's part was masterfully done...the exclusion of Tom Bombadil was unfortunate, but the substitution of Arwen for Glorfindel was fine, much less jarring than I thought it would be...

The worst part is that we have to wait a year for the next and another year for the next after that!!!

All in all, if you've read it as often as I (about 30 times), it will be stunning in it's occasional truth to the text, and easily excusable for the parts that are not...If you've never read it, it's still easily the most intelligent and beautifully done fantasy movie ever made...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great movie
Review: From the very beginning of this movie you are drawn to the magnificent cinematography. The awesome sound effects and then you are drawn into the story with fabulous costumes and make-up.
Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, and Sean Astin just to name a few do a wonderful job telling the story of a fellowship of hobbits, humans, dwarves, elves, and a the great wizard Gandalf. The beginning adventure of Frodo and how he must rely on this fellowship that must battle forces of evil such as Orcs, Goblins. In order to protect a ring that rules all rings from falling into the hands of the evil Sauron.
What is the best about this movie is it is able to actually visualize and bring to life one of the greatest stories ever written. The only downside to the movie is you don't want it to end. However I am sure it will be worth the wait to see the rest of this fabulous adventure.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Can't wait to finish it!
Review: From what I've seen of this it's a great movie. I have a 3 year old so I haven't managed to watch this all the way through just yet. From what I've seen it has great actors and great scenery. I can't comment on its accuracy as far as the books are concerned. I never like the movie if I've read the book, so I've not read anything after The Hobbit. I can't wait for the day that I can sit and watch this all the way through!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A nasty hobbit -- or -- Bored of the Rings
Review: Gee, the whole world really loved this film. I bought all the hype, all the accolades. Walked into the theater anticipating a rare, compelling visual experience. Walked out feeling like the victim of an elaborate hoax. I have serious issues with this film.

Here's the SMALL problem. Too long. Too repetitive. Too many battle scenes that go on for too long. If they edited out about an hour they'd have a nice little action film. Not a great movie, but no longer a mind-numbing one.

Here's the big problem. Does Peter Jackson ever make an inspired choice? Does he ever opt for subtlety? How many hackneyed, heavy-handed moments can a director squeeze into one movie? I think perhaps now I know. Jackson shamelessly milks every emotional situation. . .he can't resist hammering us over the head with the oldest movie cliches in the book. There were probably moments of incredible visual effects in this film, but there weren't any interesting moments between the characters.

I'd like to throw stones at Elijah Wood's insufferable performance, too, but I guess I'll cut him some slack. Sure, I couldn't abide another moment of his wide-eyed, whiny Frodo. Yes, I longed to see him put down in the most cruel method possible. But given the director's taste for the obvious, for his consistent courting of the lowest common denominator, I'm inclined to blame him for Wood's performance, too.

To truly beat a dead horse, though....has there ever been a more wretched, ineffectual protagonist than this Frodo? I mean, what was there about this weepy little brat that inspired brave men to accompany him? This is probably a Part I phenomenon; undoubtedly we'll (I should say "you'll") bear witness to his stunning transformation to heroic figure in subsequent chapters. In part 1 I got sick of his whining, and really wished he would just die already. This felt way too much like going on a noble quest with my Aunt Ruth.

So much rang false. The movie may have broken my old record for "groan-out-loud" moments. (Previously held by "Top Gun".) That's pretty surefire, isn't it? No matter what other virtues a movie might have, if you're continuously muttering "yeah, right" to yourself, it's a bad movie. For you. This was a horrible movie. For me.

Yes, there were some incredible images. Some amazing effects. But even here, lots of the "creative" choices veered decidedly towards the cheesy. When the Elf Queen (or whoever the hell she was) showed her evil side, I had flashbacks to "Night Gallery" episodes from the 70's.

But it must be me. The whole world can't be wrong, can it? I hope you all enjoy the next installment......

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: EXCELLENT
Review: Generally I'm not a fan of fantasy novels and I must admit to never having had the urge to even try to read JRR Tolkien's epic books, written decades ago. Nor have I read the likes of Terry Pratchett or JK Rowling's Harry Potter books, although I must admit to a childhood appreciation of CS Lewis. A few years ago when I read that they were making The Lord of the Rings into a trilogy of movies and my favourite movie magazines writers were wetting themselves with excitement, I thought 'so what?'. Director Peter Jackson (Heavenly Creatures) didn't have that much of a track record, sword and sorcery was definitely not my thing and besides I'm an adult and I thought that kind of stuff was for kids. That was until December 2001 when I first saw Lord of the Rings; Fellowship of the Ring and was blown away by this cinematic masterpiece...

So what can you say about Lord of The Rings that hasn't already been said? In my view in 2001 there were two great and I mean GREAT movies made, Lord of the Rings and Moulin Rouge. BUT did Oscar recognise either movie? Of course not because Oscar prefers mediocrity, Oscar prefers cynically made I've got a disability and I'm going to overcome it movies. The problem with Lord of the Rings is that nobody had a disability. None of the major characters was blind, autistic, schizophrenic or could paint with their left foot, and everybody knows to win any of the major Oscars you need a major disability, you need to follow a formula and you need to be popular and previously unfairly overlooked by the Academy for the best work of your life. Then eventually it will become your turn if it happens to be politically correct that year and if the movie studio spends millions of dollars on a publicity campaign. The fact that Lord of the Rings was perhaps the best movie of that year and outstanding Directorial achievement was apparently inconsequential to the Academy but then why should that surprise anybody?

The Lord of the Rings starts by explaining the history of the rings, how they were forged, how the forces of evil were defeated and how through the greed of man the one ring that could control all survived and eventually ended up in the possession Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm), one of the diminutive peace-loving hobbits who live in the Shire. On the occasion of his 110th birthday Bilbo, overcome with wanderlust, sets off on a journey across middle earth and at the behest of the good wizard Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen), he entrusts the ring to his young nephew, Frodo (Elijah Wood). However, it is not long before the forces of evil are in hot pursuit of the ring, led by another wizard, Saruman (Christopher Lee), under the influence of the abominable Sauron, the evil force that originally created and controlled the ring and that previously had plunged middle earth into darkness. This leads to Frodo having to flee the shire to the elf city of Rivendell, with three of his fellow (and rather mischievous) hobbits for company, hotly pursued by Sauron's evil cloaked nightriders. On eventually, and not so safely, arriving at Rivendell and after much debate it is decided that the ring must be destroyed, in the only place possible, in the fires of Mount Doom (where it was originally forged) and the quest to destroy the ring sets out in earnest, with a multi-nationed (although apparently not multi-racial) fellowship of wizards, Hobbits, elves, humans and dwarves. Once again however, danger is not far behind in the shape of the hideous and unbelievably ferocious Orcs and in the hearts of the fellowship themselves.

Parents beware!!! The Lord of the Rings is punctuated by action scenes that lift the tempo of the movie and get the audiences adrenalin flowing but they do feature some a lot of violence - torture, mutilation, decapitation, death and I have to say that I was very surprised at the rating given to it in the UK, which allowed very young children to see it. For this is not a children's movie and despite it's mythic, swords and sorcery basis, it is certainly not Harry Potter.

At the heart of Tolkien's story is that evil and hatred lurks in the heart of every person and that the ring draws these feelings to the surface and apparently, much of Tolkien's inspiration behind the moral tone of Lord of The Rings was the rise of the Nazi's prior to and during the Second World War. Hence, unlike most great mythological quests where the object is to attain some great treasure or object that will provide its bearer with some great power or wealth, at the centre of the Lord of the Rings is the quest to destroy an object of great power in the fires of Doom in order to vanquish evil and bring peace for all eternity).

Although a posterior-numbing (nearly) three hours long, at the end of The Fellowship of The Ring I was left frustrated and desperate for more. I wanted to stay seated and for the movie theatre to immediately start showing the second part of the trilogy, The Two Towers. I didn't want to have to wait a year for the sequel or eight months for the DVD, such was my enjoyment of this movie. For Peter Jackson has achieved what supposedly could not be achieved in providing us with a fast-moving and totally enthralling tale, set against the beautiful backdrop of the New Zealand landscape; snow-capped mountains, beautiful lakes, rivers and valleys, idyllic farmland, great expanses of woodland and beautiful and exotic flora. The New Zealand tourist board will forever be in his debt. The sets and special effects are all excellent, as is the cast magnificently led by Sir Ian McKellen as the great wizard Gandalf, who does a magnificent job steering well clear of the ham. He is brilliantly supported by the likes of Ian Holm, Elijah Wood, Sean Bean, Christopher Lee, Cate Blanchett, Liv Tyler, Orlando Bloom, Sean Astin and in particular (in what might well be a breakthrough performance) Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn (aka Strider). Whilst Frances Walsh's screenplay must also be given much credit.

Like many millions of other people across the planet I eagerly await the second part of the trilogy, The Two Towers. As for The Fellowship of The Ring it fully deserves five stars, if not six (five stars are all too often too easily dispensed by Amazon reviewers). Movie entertainment doesn't get any better than this and if you disagree, then you are entitled to your opinion. It is just that on this occasion your opinion happens to be wrong!!!
: )

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: An intelligent Masterpiece
Review: George Lucas fumbled the ball with the Star Wars prequel trilogy and Peter Jackson picks up the ball!!!!

The Extended Edition of The Lord Of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is an absolute winner and a good complement to the theatrical release. This edition really enhances the story by adding plotlines that deepen into the characters' lives, from Bilbo to Boromir, from the peaceful Shire to the ruins of Amon Hen.

Jackson's vision of Tolkien's mythology will never be unmatched, first for being the first to attempt it on a live-action movie not only with one, but with three hand-to-hand full length motion pictures. Second, for the carefully detailed closeness to that world. Third, for the precision in the visual, acting and technical visions.

On this edition, I only found one minor flaw: the sequence of Caras Ghaladon when the Fellowship is climbing the tree to meet with Galadriel, the mood is like a sunset and the next shot is completely by night...it's known by the books that those travels took them a lot of time, but to climb the tree in such long time? maybe I am wrong.

The hidden easter eggs, absolutely wonderful. The documentaries well assembled in chronological and work process order shows the real artistry, hard work and passion involved in making a movie and completing the journey of bringing Tolkien's myth to life without leaving a single department involved in the production out of frame... the appendixes DVDs are a fitting tribute to the work and craftsmanship of all the movie's cast and crew.

And finally, the goodies in the gift's edition show that it's not bad to make merchandising when it's worth the money you are willing to pay for it, the Argonath are truly two pieces of art.

This is creativity without story or time limits, a balance of story and special effects, truly an intelligent masterpiece.


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