Rating: 
Summary: Ponderous, just ponderous
Review: This is without a doubt the worst film epic ever made. It was ponderous from start to finish. Oh what a bore.
Rating: 
Summary: The Absolute Best Movie Ever...
Review: This is, by far, the absolute best movie ever! And Getting it on DVD makes it twice as good. Now, I'm not going to go in to a big long speech on why it's so good. I'm just going to go strait to the popular list of reasons.Disc 1 Features * The Theatrical Version of The Lord Of The Rings. (Who needs a second disc?) Disc 2 Features * Documentaries such as Welcome To Middle-Earth, Quest For The Ring, and A Passage To Middle-Earth.
* Lordoftherings.net featurettes including Finding Hobbiton, Hobitton Comes Alive, Believing The World Of Bree, Ringwraiths: The Fallen Kings, Rivendell: The Elven Refuge, Languages Of Middle-Earth, Two Wizards, Music of Middle-Earth, Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, Cate Blanchette, Liv Tyler, Ian McKellen, and Weathertop: The Windy Hill.
* 10 minute preview of The Two Towers.
* TV Spots
* Enya "May It Be" Music Video.
* Preview of the video game The Two Towers.
* And Special DVD-ROM content for your computer. So I'm just gonna' say, if you liked the movie in theaters, GET IT ON DVD!!!
Rating:
Summary: One of the best DVDs ever
Review: This is, if not, the best DVD ever, with so many special features it will make your head spin. The movie is better with the 30 minutes of extra footage, and it goes more along with the book, for you die-hard fans.... There is no better deal out there. Definitley a must own DVD.
Rating:
Summary: A hilarious easter egg...
Review: This is, of course, a wonderful movie, the best one of 2001, and the extras are terrific: genuinely interesting behind-the-scenes documentaries and lots of great commentaries to choose from. However, there are plenty of reviews to discuss the merits of this must-have DVD. My main reason for writing this review is to let readers know about a terrific "easter egg" (hidden feature, for DVD novices) on disk one. Go to the chapter menu, scroll down to The Council of Ellrond (chapter 27, the last chapter on the disk), then push the bottom arrow to scroll down to underneath this chapter and push enter. This will access the easter egg, which is a really funny short spoof of the movie that played at the 2002 MTV Movie Awards, featuring Jack Black and Sarah Michelle Gellar, and (bonus!) it's briefly introduced by director Peter Jackson. How many directors have the guts to not only put a spoof of their own movie on the DVD, but introduce it themselves?
Rating: 
Summary: Overall a great movie, but be aware that there are flaws.
Review: This is, overall, an excellent movie. The acting is great. The production design is breathtaking, and especially satisfying to hard-core Tolkien fans. I believe that all Tolkien fans will be glad to have seen this movie, and even more glad to see what sort of goodies are packed into the DVD version. I would not, however, call this movie perfect. First, if you have not read the book yet, do so before you see the movie. I realize this advice goes against conventional wisdom, but in this case it is necessary. Much of the original story line was cut out to save time (how else can you fit hundreds of pages into a couple of hours?) and also, sadly, to beef up the length of some of the action scenes (such as the encounter with the cave troll). I believe Tolkien has provided action and suspense aplenty in his books, and I don't believe it was necessary to add more, especially at the expense of clarity in the plot. This is one of the main reasons it is necessary to have read the book to understand what is happening in the movie, and therefore to be able to enjoy it thoroughly! Second, I have to disagree with reviewers claiming that the special effects were spectacular. They were very cool, and better than most, but they did seem to have a problem keeping the size of people and objects in perspective. Some of you may notice that the size of the hobbits in relation to other characters, the size of the cave troll, and the size of all the characters in relation to structures such as Rivendell and the Argonath are not consistent. In one shot Argonath dwarfs the boats, in another it is merely big. Finally, I must admit that I was rather sad to see that Tom Bombadil did not make even a cameo appearance. Read the book first, be aware that it is not perfect, and you are sure to enjoy this movie and all the extra goodies on this and future LOTR DVD's.
Rating:
Summary: It should have won the oscar
Review: This is, without a doubt the best film I have ever seen. Peter Jackson and the Cast & Crew of this movie did a great job, and while the movie was not totally true to the book, some things just didn't fit. I mean, if Tom Bombadil had been included it would have been like 4 and 1/2 hours long! And while I wouldn't mind, most people wouldn't stomach 4 hours in a dark theater. I really think it should have won the oscar for best picture, but the soundtrack oscar kept me happy. The music for this is the best I have ever heard. Howard Shore really deserved the oscar. Anyway, if you haven't already, SEE THIS MOVIE! But don't take little kids, the orcs are just a little to real for a five-year-old. And by the way, the people at MTV are so cool for giving LOTR Best Picture at their movie awards, Thanks!!
Rating:
Summary: ACTION PACKED
Review: This masterpiece created by JRR TOLKIEN was greatly done in movie form. It was jam packed with action including fierce battle scenes and great plot. There are great, great battles filled with orcs, monsters, mountain trolls, ring raithes, and other fierce bad guys. It is contued with the TWO TOWERS and then concluded in THE RETURN OF THE KING. the TWO TOWERS comes out in december. The book is great and if they make it like the book it will be spectacular.
Rating:
Summary: The translation exceeds the original
Review: This may be heresy, but I felt the movie was better than the book. Tolkien defined the modern fantasy genre in literature. FOTR defines the fantasy genre in cinema. Although both are great works, the movie transcends the novel by remaining faithful to it while appealing to people who couldn't care less about fantasy or science fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Spectacular. Far, far more than just a money grab.
Review: This may well get lost amid a flood of reviews, but I feel compelled to post it. The DVD industry has become notorious for its constant moneygrab "editions", with rerelease upon rerelease, "Collector's Edition" this, and "Platinum Version" that, and for the most part that notoriety is well-deserved...it is shameful, transparent, and valueless in the majority of cases. But not in this one. Beyond expectations, this extended edition finally, finally provides a version of the movie that is worthy of the legendary kudos that have been heaped on it. Allowing Jackson to provide it is the best thing New Line could have chosen to do; financially for them, creatively for Jackson and his team, and entertainment-wise for us. It's a rare win-win-win. I have to say, I was not one to agree with the raving over the original theatrical release. I may be called a "purist", though I certainly would not have characterized myself as such, but I unapologetically take offense at the thought of taking creative liberties with a license and set of literature of the level of unmatched brilliance, scope, and endurance as Tolkien's. As such, things like Arwen replacing Glorfindel, the editing mockery imposed on the Elrond council, the reduction of the Hobbits to comic relief, and so on, compounded each other and drastically reduced the movie's value for me. I thought the film was ok, but for this passionate fan of the books, it was ultimately more disappointment than pleasant surprise. However, beyond belief, I have to say that this extended edition redeems the film in ways I could never have imagined 30 extra minutes doing. The better pacing during travel sequences, the darker menace of the battles, the enhanced majesty and relevance of the Lothlorien sequence, the extra character development (e.g. Boromir, Frodo, Gimli), a much more powerful, intelligent finale...it's hard to fathom that individual example improvements like these could make such an incredible difference. But they can and do, to the point where this is practically a new film altogether. The added scenes were masterfully selected, and the new scores for them are marvelous. Not only has Peter Jackson used the lack of time constraints to excellent advantage, but he has actually gotten better at his editing choices as well, to the point where I feel this film really does reflect Tolkien's original vision better than the original theatrical release. In short, this is the version of this movie that deserves all the raving. It seems that the world's embrace of the first film has hopefully given Jackson and his team the liberty and confidence to more fully realize Tolkien's vision, and I now feel more encouraged than before by the potential of the next two films (and perhaps even moreso by their own extended editions, if they are planned). There are still some things that will never be "fixed" per se (Arwen being one example), but otherwise, this is a true marvel of a re-release and is more than worth the money. The extras (and they are excellent in their own right) just make it even more of a no-brainer. An absolutely spectacular offering.
Rating:
Summary: DULL, BORING, WASTE OF TIME
Review: This message will get a lot of unhelpful votes, but this film was, for me, 3 hours wasted. It was dull, boring, dark and unfulfilling. I am a real fan of the four books ("The Hobbit" has to be included in the series) but NOT of this film. Elijah Wood was terrible as Frodo. He had one expression throughout the film. With his wide open, staring eyes, he had the expression of having had a pole placed in an unmentionable place. This really ruined the film for me.
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