Rating: Summary: Beautiful Review: I am giving this film 4 stars based more on its asthetic qualities than on the storyline. The story of the film was interesting and at times riveting, but it was not the full story of the Tolkien book. Can you enjoy the film? Yes, regardless of whether or not you have read the books. You must however release the story of the book and go with the story of the film. Characters have been developed or cut back in order to improve the flow of the movie, but you may find that one of the less well developed characters is one of your favorites from the book. Worth watching!
Rating: Summary: Interesting, but slightly disappointing. Review: It was nice to be able to see the extended scenes, but the original theatrical movie is the better one. One of my favorite scenes from the original "Concerning Hobbits" was completely destroyed in the extended version. I was afraid similar damage would be done to the rest of the film. Fortunately, the rest of the damage was minimal. The most interesting parts of this DVD are the extra features. I have enjoyed listening to the actors' commentary and seeing what was involved in turning the book into a movie.
Rating: Summary: WHERE IS THE GREATNESS OF YESTERDAY? Review: All right, all right, The Lord of the rings is good, now, just a little thought for you to think about : Somewhere in the middle of the movie, didn't you find yourself dozing off or something?It really gets boring sometimes, really.It Is a constructive criticism, maybe the second one is going to be everything I was waiting for.Unfortunately, they don't make more things like old movies, where special effetcs were secondary and the story was what really mattered.Remember The magic of OZ, Raiders of the lost ark, Simbad and even Kull and Never Ending story?Those were the times.......Let's hope Hollywood realizes that!
Rating: Summary: Good...very,very good Review: I think that every actor/actress did exceptionly good in this movie...and i cant wait till Two Towers comes out...unfortunatly i hear its only gonna be mostly about Argon....and not Frodo..i have no idea how that is going to work out..but oh well
Rating: Summary: This Was A Cool Movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Review: I haven't read the Lord of the Rings books, but now that I've seen the movie, I'll read every one of them. This was one of the best movies I've ever seen. The battle scenes were really neat. My favorite characters were (well actually I like most all of them) Arwen, Legolas, Gandalf, Aragorn, and Merry and Pippin. Elijah Wood was pretty good as Frodo, and Liv Tyler was great as Arwen. It was pretty sad what happened to Gandalf, but of course we all know he wasn't a goner. There were some funny things Merry and Pippin did, and it was interesting to hear the Elves speak their language. It was nice and long. Some movies are so long that you're bored to tears by the end of them, but Lord of the Rings keeps your attention the whole time. I liked the Black Riders, especially the horses. I don't know how anyone couldn't like this movie. It was really good and I can't wait for the Two Towers.
Rating: Summary: A great DVD for a great movie Review: This is the definitive version of the movie to have. The new footage fleshes out the characters, story and setting of Middle Earth. The commentary provides a deep source of "how did they do that?" for die-hard fans. The addition of the DTS will give every audiophile warm fuzzies in the pit of their stomachs. However, if you thought the original was already too long, this extended version probably won't do anything for you. As a hard-core fan, I loved the extra footage, which was masterfully woven into the original rather than just being slapped in in big chunks. My wife, who is not a Tolkien follower, also really appreciated the extra scenes because they helped her understand more of the background. She felt they plugged gaps in the original. The more memorable additions are an opening introduction to Hobbits, insights into Aragorn's conflict as the exiled heir to the kingdom of men, more on Boromir's ambition to use the ring for good, and -- thankfully! -- details of Lothlorien and Galadriel. There are other tidbits on Isildur and Gollum, and extended and gorier battle scenes. I've only listened to some of the commentary, and didn't expect to be that interested. But once I started listening I found it fascinating. For example, on the commentary by the cast, they said they filmed two versions of Gandalf in the opening scenes, a smoking and a non-smoking one. The non-smoking one instead carried around a bag of toffees that he would suck on. And the elf haven of Rivendell was to be a no-smoking area! They were worried that the amount of pipe puffing that went on wouldn't go over well with anti-smokers. This is also one of the best-sounding DVDs I have. The DTS coding is really worth it and practically justifies a surround sound system in and of itself. The dialogue comes through crisp and clear, while scenes like the Balrog simply wrap the room in delicious, full-bodied acoustics. So unless you hate long movies, despise the fantasy genre in general, or wasn't that impressed with the movie in the theater, this really is the version to own...
Rating: Summary: A big hit with only a few misses Review: I finally watched my new extended version DVD yesterday. Having seen the theatrical version over, and over, and over, I couldn't wait to see the added and extended scenes. For the most part, they were good and added to the film. But there were a few that either didn't add to the story, interrupted the flow, or made no sense unless you read the book. As for fitting in with the rest of the film, most of the scenes blended seamlessly the film. They felt as if they could or should have been in the original theatrical release (wow!). However, there were a couple that had that we-filmed-this-scene-after-the-movie-was-over-and-stuck-it-in-at-the-last-minute feel. I would say about 85% of the new and extended scenes were good and about 15% were not. But that's just quantity. Quality-wise, the new scenes that were great more than make up for the few scenes that were not. As many of you know, Howard Shore, who scored the film, came back and wrote new music for the added scenes in the film. Like the added scenes, the new music was also hit-and-miss. Some of it just didn't seem consistent with the original. I would say of the new music 60% fit in with the original and 40% was out of place. The only other thing that bugged me about the movie was that it is on two separate DVDs, so you have to switch out in the middle. Good news for those who would like an intermission, but bad news for me. To sum it all up, a great movie enhanced by great additions. The gift giving scene alone is enough to make me buy the extended version. Add in two complete disks of extras and you can't ask for much more. Overall rating: Definite buy!
Rating: Summary: Great DVD - Tolkien fans will not be disapointed Review: The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring (Platinum Series Extended Edition) DVD is reason enough to own a DVD player. Besides all the extra footage from this Peter Jackson/Tolkien classic, there are an astounding number of features spread across 4 disks. I am not going to print off the feature list, but let me state that Tolkien fans, and of course fans of the film, should not miss this edition. If there is anything disappointing it is the lack of material from the first "regular" edition DVD release - you will have to pick up that version if you want to see all the theatrical trailers and the actual theatrical release because they are not included on the "extended" edition. The extended edition is highly recommended, and in my opinion a better bargain than the "collectors" edition, which includes an extra National Geographic DVD about the life of J. R. R. Tolkien, and the two Argonath bookends. All in all, the extra 30 minutes of movie footage is worth the price of admission, and the format from menu, to presentation, to commentaries, to all the bonus features makes this DVD set one of the best DVDs ever released!
Rating: Summary: excellent! Review: I own the theatrical version but can't help but buying this one too! the sound is amazing, for the same amount of volume set compared to other movie... the sound in this movie actually shake my whole living room. and the picture is really really beautiful. Plus additional footages and all the extras, this set will keep you busy for a long while. a must have!
Rating: Summary: Just one word: Excellent! Review: Ok, I've been an avid Tolkien fan since 1991, when I read The Hobbit and the three sequels, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King. Back in the late 70's, an attempt was made to adapt these books into films. Or rather, The Hobbit and Return of the King were. Though good in themselves, these films were a great disappointment to avid fans of Tolkien. There were those that saw the movies and were ever afterward convinced that Tolkien's work could never be adapted to film in a satisfactory manner. Then along came Peter Jackson. I don't remember exactly when he began work on this project, but it was his goal to turn each of the three Lord of the Rings novels into a movie, and not to make just one movie for them all. This, in my opinion, was a good idea. Not only that, with technology being considerably more advanced now than it was at the time of the first LOTR movie, much more could be done with it. To say that this is a very good movie would be something of an understatement. Even though I can't see (and therefore can't appreciate the visuals), I was much more impressed with this adaptation. Partly it's because... Jackson's choice of actors was right on. Though I never imagined Elijah Wood as a hobbit, he does an excellent job of capturing Frodo, while Ian McKellan is perfect in the shoes of Gandalf. Christopher Lee is also perfect for the role of Saruman. The plot is right out of Tolkien's book. I've heard people say they hated this movie because it didn't include every little thing from the book, but those are fanatics. You couldn't include everything from one of Tolkien's books in a movie without adding unnecessarily to the playing time. The music in this film is some of the best I've heard since the Star Wars films. Whoever was the composer must really have had Tolkien in mind. The only other recent movie whose soundtrack really caught my attention is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and that film's score was composed by the same guy who did the Star Wars music. The sound effects were also very excellent. Though not a perfect adaptation of the novel (as I said you couldn't do that without totally ruining the movie), this is definitely well worth the money. To name some of the film's high points, the duel between Gandalf and Saruman at the top of the tower of Orthank. It wasn't included in the book, but it fit right in. In fact, the movie goes into a bit more detail than even the novel did. Jackson must have also read the Silmarillion. I recommend that you rent this movie and watch it, then buy it if it meets with your standards. I admit I was a little dubious, but the excitement outweighed that by a considerable amount.
|