Rating: 
Summary: 12 months of torture!
Review: 12 months of torture until the second part will play! This is not one it's the milestone in entertainment history! The atmosphere is so book-like, I had to get the book back out and re-read it. I was extremely hyped up with huge expectations, but they were more than met.
Rating:
Summary: "...The ring wants to be found"
Review: 19 rings were created by the dark lord Sauron. Three given to the elves, seven to the dwarves and nine to the race of men. There was a 20th ring created by Sauron, in which he infused his power. this ring was the master ring of the others. The ring was lost and eventually ended up with the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo gives the ring to his nephew Frodo, played to perfection by former child star Elijah Wood. Gandalf finds out that the ring in the possession of Frodo is indeed the evil ring. He tells Frodo that it must be destroyed because its evil has immense power over mortal men. Frodo ends up wat the Kingdom of the elves where he sets out on a quest with a band of Humans, elves, dwarves and hobbits.Their quest to take it to the place of the ring's creation, the mountain of doom, and destroy it by throwing it into the fire from which it came. An evil wizard, the former mentor of gandalf, is creating an army to retrieve the ring and revive Sauron.This movie is a fantasy of epic proportions. Its is a fine adaptation of the Tolkein classic. The special effects are very good and the Oscar winning cinemetography is fantastic as well as the Oscar winning score that perfectly sets the mood for the movie. The expanded version has 30 extra minutes to the original theatrical release. I didnot see the original so I really cannot compare the two but the longer movie gives a lot of depth to the story. There were many creappy characters and violent scenes that may be disturbing to small children. I had a friends who took their two small boys to see this movie and they said it was border line. They told me that the "Two Towers" is even more violent and darker. The "Two Towers" continues Frodo's quest to destroy the ring.
Rating:
Summary: Read and You'll see...
Review: 1998... It was a fabulus year... why? Ask any avid Tolkien fan. It was the year they released an announcement to never be forgotten, LOTS will shortly become a movie! I had read the series five times by then, and was so obsessed it was completly ridiculous. Ah, but of course! We cannot, and will not, forget the fans who were against the movie. On the internet, page after page of "it will be the ruin of OUR beloved books" Ahhmmm, point taken? Fabulous I had no thoughts to match these. Those wondeful intellectual snobs who chomprehend Tolkien to the inth-degree, far surpassing our petty philosophical notions. THey learned the language for gosh sakes. No, the book was wonderful,entertaining,everything its cracked up to be. THe movie was informative, thoughtful, and vivid, everything a movie should be. My advice? Rent the books, read them, then, go see, or buy, the movie. YOu will not be dissapointed! My only comment is that perhaps this movie should be screened for excessive violence, if you plan to let a child under ten watch it.
Rating:
Summary: An Extended Edition Worth Buying
Review: 2001 was filled with an erratic slew of mind-degenerating movies. From the horrible acting of "The Mummy Returns" to the crude stupidity of "How High," the movies was just not interesting enough to actually spend time for, but when it seemed that Hollywood was losing its grip on us, it saved its own hide with The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
"Fellowship of the Ring" introduces us to director Peter Jackson's visual vision of J.R.R.Tolkein's epic. As the first installment of the trilogy (the second part in winter of 2002, and the third in 2003), Fellowship takes us into the story of Frodo Baggins, a Hobbit (picture a gnome with bigfoot's feet), who must rid the world of the One Ring. There's a catch though, the One Ring, which was forged by the dark lord Sauron, was created by evil, and therefore, corrupts all who uses it. To take on this enormous task, Frodo must band with his friends and the different races of Middle-Earth, including elves, men, and dwarves, and even an aging wizard. But don't let all the fantasy oriented characteristics fool you; this movie actually has real emotional quality.
Jackson's vision contains emotional depth, something much desired in other action films, with its subplot of brotherhood, seen especially in the first hour, and holds on to it for the rest of the trip. Ian Mckellen's portrayal of the aged wizard Gandalf is perfect. He says every line as it should be said, transforming from a peace-loving man, to a stubbornly adamant warrior in two seconds flat. Aragorn, played by Viggo Mortenson, also helps out the film by adding a loyal, ill-ridden hero to the mix.
"Fellowship of the Ring" may have its moving moments, but this is not a peaches and cream movie. There is action. A lot of action. After the second hour, the fellowship combats blizzards, pugnacious monsters, and the infamous Ringwraiths, fallen kings forced to serve Sauron. And just because these guys are emotionally bonded to each other, doesn't mean they're sappy. All the members of the fellowship must go through hordes of orcs and Frodo takes more punishment than his sword does.
The movie is darker than a lot of other flicks, too. The Ringwraiths are not just your average sword-wielding villains, and the Ring's innate evil makes even the most noble heroes in the film untrustworthy.
Even with its superb depth and hand chopping action, the movie still has a few flaws. In the books, Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) is seen as a compassionate elf, but in the film, she goes on psychedelic rampages, with mantras no one can understand. Jackson also fails to describe the purposes of some items, things that made the books so intricate. But all these potholes are minor differences that still allow the film to keep its main intent.
With Jackson's eagle-eye shots and surrealistic lighting, the films direction could not have been pieced together in a better way. This combination of excellent effects shots and intelligent storyline should help Hollywood earn back some of its respect. The DVD:
The Extended Edition is perfect in complimenting Jackson's vision, as the addition 30 minute special version of the film proves. 30 minutes might not seem like a huge change, but it really does make the entire experience something else. Jackson is able to get more out of his characters and their relationships to one another, while also subtly bringing in better action sequences to the mix. The commentaries are tedious at times, and it's annoying to see such a wonderful movie split in two. Just when a revelation is made, the screen turns dark and asks the viewer to switch to the next disc. While irritating, it is only a minor setback to such a wonderfully created dvd collection. The extra features truly give a fresh experience to the entire movie's magic. From viewing how much sweat and blood Jackson and his team put into the film's creation, we also get to grasp a little part of the cast's time on the set. The bonding that we see through the cast only gives us a piece of that magic. The collection is a great piece to allow fans to explore the epic film, as well as the effort behind it that made it all possible. It's one of those few dvds that is a must own.
Rating:
Summary: The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring
Review: 5 out of 5 stars = "The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring"
Reviewer: Daniel Misciagna from Kingsport, Tennessee United States
"The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring" is a great, yet spectacular, movie. It is filled with action, adventure, drama, fantasy, a little romance, and fun. Director Peter Jackson, and his crew, did a lot of work to make the author J.R.R. Tolkiens "The Lord Of The Rings" trilogy books, which I have read, come to life on the big screen so you have to give them credit. Though this movie does not perfectly follow the books I can understand why they cut, added, and changed some parts to it. Books and movies are two totally different things and you cannot make a movie exactly like a book, the audience just would not go for it. The actors and actresses did a very splendid job on acting like the characters from the author J.R.R. Tolkiens "The Lord Of The Rings" trilogy books. There are a lot of fantasy characters brought to life from the books on this movie such as: ringwraiths, the watcher in the water, orcs, a cave troll, the balrog demon, elves, dwarves, wizards, and hobbits. I am glad this movie was directed in New Zealand because the land mass there looks just like the land mass the author J.R.R. Tolkien describes the land of Middle-Earth in "The Lord Of The Rings" trilogy books. The special effects, art direction, and music score in this movie are very excellent. "The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring" is a great, yet spectacular, five star movie directed by Peter Jackson. I highly recommend you buy "The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring" on VHS or DVD. This fantastic movie is the winner of four Oscars (Academy Awards)! Congratulations to director Peter Jackson and his crew!
Rating:
Summary: Mostly GOOD.
Review: 8-9-02:
I have changed my rating from four stars to five. The quality of the transfer is so good it makes an improvement on the big screen. The scenes in Moria are clearer and you can see the balrog much clearer. The negatives I wrote in the earlier review seem to be much less noticeable or important now. The extras on disc two are interesting and the previews for the extended version and TTT accomplish their purpose extreemly well. ***original review below.*** First the bad.
The movie CHOPS 20% of the book -in one big chunk- (muttering a chapter title doesn't count!). The story of how Merry and Pippin become involved is cut and CHANGED. The old forest and the Barrow Wights are also missing. Some of Tolkien's best descriptions are found in the forest scenes (gnarly, old, and aware trees; gloom and darkness; spiders and other creatures lurking! The Galadriel scene is BAD. And there are two things wrong with Moria. 1. The cave troll scene is too long and it should have some texture on its skin (of fur). 2. I would have liked to see a bit more of Moria. The special effects when the ring is worn are overdone. One too many sweeping helicopter shots of the river. Finally, the scene where Sam goes into the river at the end was done all wrong!
***Now for the GOOD***
The history of the ring is told very well. Many scenes show a great deal of very good creativity. The Shire scenes are wonderful. Good humor (except in Rivendell, and taht the "conspiracy unmasked" was cut out). ***The reactions of Gandalf and especially Boromir to being near the ring really helps display the evil power of the ring. Their acting (and the direction in these scenes) is PERFECT!*** The wraiths were also done very well.
The special effects and music are teriffic. The color and "tone" of the river and the huge statues at the end are especially tastefully done. Shrinking the Hobbits was just plain unbelieveable when they were running around several other characters. The scene at Orthanc was visually spectacular and the duel was creatively and tastefully done.
Substituting Arwen for Glorfindel neatens things. The moria scenes (except for the above criticisms), are superb -especially when Gandalf "defeats" the balrog.
[All of the smaller plots of the book could have been done except it would have confused and blurred things for the unread, and the movie would have been five hours long! Maybe six movies would have been required for everything???]
***The DVDs' extras look extreemly promising!***
Rating:
Summary: Beauties to Weep Over, Wonders To Burn the Soul . . .
Review:
These, the stories of John Ronald Ruel Tolkien, are what can truly be called a classic -- an epic work that has and shall stand the test of time.
This treatment of those works has finally met the challenge of bringing to the screen the vision of the original.
There ARE beauties here to make you weep -- the loss of childhood's perfections, the end of dreams, letting go, and the dark hours when all things good can only be seen from far away in the winter of sorrow. There ARE wonders to burn the soul as well -- ideals ever out of reach, love beyond time and hope, devotion beyond death.
Giving us more (especially of Hobbiton) can only deepen the viewers' understanding of the most central theme of "Lord of the Rings" that of how precious that the little things of life are, and how important and empowering our ties to them can be. This central theme of Tolkien's writings echos his deeply religous background. In Middle Earth, Tolkien sings to us of his vision of the beatitudes incarnate. Herein, truly, the meek inherit the earth.
This vision permates the film as well.
3 1/2 hours? Bring it on and more, I say! For a film such as this, even the restless audiences of America will sit still.
Rating: 
Summary: A collection of worn-out banalities....
Review: ...I might be the only one to think that movie is nothing more than your very average Hollywood Heroic Fantasy film. I simply had the feeling that I was presented with a mix of the stereotypical imageries, created by past directors who had drawn their inspiration from Tolkien's "Lord of the Ring", and then so much borrowed by other ones that they have become complete banalities. I didn't read that book but I had heard many critics and people say that the director for this movie had truly succeeded where many had failed: to translate the spirit of the book into cinematographic actions and to present a very accurate pictural description of Tolkien's world. For this reason, I really expected something very different from the other Heroic Fantasy productions I had seen in the past, since I had always thought that they were pretty cheap and commonplace. With regards to this first point, I was quite disappointed: TLOR is a collection of awfully banal"déjà -vu" and the spectacular special effects don't even succeed in compensating for this major flaw. With regard to the plot and the story, I was also quite disappointed. I almost fell asleep after 30 minutes and the movie lasts for three very long hours! The characters are so unidimensional that they are completely predictable! The moral of the story is also terribly cheap: one always need a smaller one than oneself and purity, friendship, courage, honesty are everything, and bla, bla, bla, bla.....BLA! I think I saw enough Hollywood movies repeating this like a mantra to have already gotten the point! If it is only to tell us that, then the director could have very well left it very deep into the background subtext! So, I give this movie only one star, because there is nothing new or original that could have justified either the fortune that was spent on it or the whole fuss the media did about it. The story was bad, the special effects only a computerized enhancement of already treated down at heel tricks and the acting completely banal. This comes hardly to the level of an average common TV-production. Don't count on me to buy the DVD! Even the movie "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" is way better than this!
Rating: 
Summary: Too Long!!
Review: This is good family entertainment complete with a good story line and great anamation. The problem is that it is too long and then it dumps you like Justin did Britney, right on your behind! Wazzzupwitdat?
The movie comes to some resolution when the first part of the journey is complete and this would have made a good stopping point. However the journey continues and somewhere in it the movie ends abruptly.
It is said that this is how the book ends. If that is so I would rather wait until the series is complete so I don't have to be kept hanging.
Rating: 
Summary: the fellowship
Review: ?I saw it in theaters. In theaters It was PG-13 now on vhs it's "R". Why? Yes the movie is violent in some ways but not enough to have an "R" rating. in the Mines it is very intense. Very scarry for little kids. the Real life Look of all the actors and the action is also scarry . But it is clear that Good is aginst Evil and that is a good thing. So is the movie changing ??? The rating system is not something I can count on. this was a good movie for a kid my age to see with my parents. If it was "R" I never would have got to see it. It is Intense. I have seen it 6 times now. it is one of my favorite movies. Now my Dad is concerned about what changes have been made. These are great books and great movies. Good Vs Bad. The Movie is like what it looks like in my imigination when my dad reads to me Just not as gory.... I would have never imagined the Green Ork blood.. GROSS.
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