Rating: 
Summary: The Longest Movie EVER.
Review: If you didn't like this movie, it's okay. You're not alone. Most people like it and don't understand how anyone could not be delighted with it. But... I wanted to love this movie, I truly did. But I didn't. It was awful. Within the first several scenes Frodo was a dozen different sizes when shown beside Gandorf or whatever his name was, so I spent the rest of the movie watching him change sizes. Sometimes Frodo came up to G's waist. Sometimes he was taller than his shoulders. Sometimes he was a wee tiny thing. Sometimes he was the height of a normal person. You never knew how big Frodo was going to be. And the fight scenes were SO redundant. I didn't leave before it was over, but only because the people I was with were enjoying it so much. So, if you loved the books, by all means, see the movie. You'll probably love it. If you thought they were long and boring, the movie will be the same. ...
Rating: 
Summary: superb
Review: if you enjoyed the movie in the theatre, you must see this. You should own it. It is truly worth it. I just wish the studio would have released this up front. This version adds back a lot of charm from the books. So if you love the books, I think you will enjoy this version. Even if you don't it does add to the story somewhat.
Rating:
Summary: Long, but worth it.
Review: If you enjoyed this movie in the theater and weren't one of the
few who were bored by the length, I would highly suggest you
check out this DVD set. It adds some vital bits back to the
story, giving you a better perspective into the lives of the
characters. There is about 30 minutes of added content, but
they managed to spread it throughout the entire movie. There is
also a new introduction to Hobbiton which gives you a better
understanding of the hobbits, Bilbo Baggins, and his book.
Overall, I would say this is a must for anyone who enjoyed
the movie. If you can't decide between the standard DVD release
and this one, I would suggest this one without a doubt.
Rating:
Summary: Egad!
Review: If you have never read the book, or read it once and forgot it, or just don't care much about it, you may enjoy this film. It is beautifully made and has many fine qualities. If you are a devotee of the books, have read them with love and understanding, if Tolkien is important to you....be prepared either to forget temporarily the plot which Tolkien developed or to suffer repeated great shocks and disappointments. I have not the heart to go into a lot of detail, but I'll give just a few examples (for I do not want you to think that I object to the omission of the Old Forest and Bombadil--no, they had to go--or to some trivial change or deletion.) Saruman is one of the few ambivalent characters in the book--a too-clever man who plays his own game. In this film he is just a tool of Sauron from the start. The subtlety of his character is destroyed. Merry and Pippin start out as minor juvenile delinquents. They join Frodo and Sam more or less accidentally. Gimli is a buffoon. Legolas hardly exists except as a machine-like archer. Aragorn, in the film, does not want to be King--he has "given that up long ago." Really. I thought he had been spending his whole life preparing to claim his rightful throne. (I guess that's why, in the film, he finds the shards of Narsil in Rivendell rather than carrying the Sword That Was Broken with him.) In this politically correct age, we cannot slight the ladies, can we?--and it's a long wait to get to Eowyn. So we'll just have Arwen show up at Weathertop to save the whole Fellowship with her sword and fast horse. Charming. This idiotic scene should please Xena fans, though it is a little disconcerting to see Aragorn reduced to being Gabrielle. Elrond Half-elven. Ah. My favorite character in the film. "Venerable he seemed as a king crowned with many winters, and yet hale as a tried warrior..." is how the Master describes him (I, 274). His appearance instead inspired in me an acute nostalgia, for he reminded me of some of the sorts of people I remember from my college days, who existed on the fringes of academe, usually by selling beads, incense, and other, less-legal things from basement shops in college communities. Ah, yes, good old Elrond Half-hippie. (I expected him to try to calm down the film's farcical Council by offering them marijuana.) The final battle scene is a wonderful example of the director not knowing where to stop. The "Boromir-as-pincushion" scene(a.k.a. "You can't keep a good man down") goes from being appropriately tragic to inappropriately hilarious (will he get up yet again??), while Aragorn's dismemberment of the Uruk-hai leader makes one wonder if this Mortensen fellow should have starred in Gladiator. Did anyone else notice the final music (when Aragorn talks to Gimli and Legolas)? I swear it's like something out of Braveheart--which is, I think, the film the director really wanted to make. I expected bagpipers to come marching up and Aragorn to cry "Freedom!" Not content with many extra-close close-ups of the Ruling Ring, the director decided it should say a few words occasionally, and recite some poetry ("Ash nazg durbatuluk," etc.) I think the Ring has more lines than Legolas.
The Lidless Eye might be more effective if it were horizontal, not vertical. Much more could be said, but not by me. Words fail. This ill-judged mangling of the works of a great author is very unfortunate. There was no reason to change so much.
Rating:
Summary: Faithful masterpiece
Review: If you have not read the book and are solely relying on the films, then you should stop reading this; I give away the ending. Any writer worth his or her salt would tell you, that adapting a book to a movie is very difficult. It's not hard to imagine the difficulty in transforming written words that in our minds become pictures and sounds: What each of us gather from books is our own unique experience as our minds are uniquely different from one another. The difficulty in adapting books to movies lies in the fact that we're almost always disappointed with the result. Whether the movie does not follow the book's sequence of events, whether certain scenes or chapters are omitted, or whether certain characters are omitted or combined with other minor characters, there's always something that disappoints someone. We must remember that adaptations are simply interpretations, and expecting them to be completely faithful to the written texts would be unreasonable. In Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (FotR), and I believe for the upcoming The Two Towers (TTT) and The Return of the King (TRofk), it remains faithful to some of the central themes of Tolkien's books, that of pluralism and pity. That there is no one or even few heroes-if you will-who decide the outcome of the story is in my view refreshing, and quite the opposite of many hero films that promote individualism, that a single hero singularly saves the world. How often does this happen? Was there a person who single-handedly decided the outcome of WWII? Was the United States single-handedly built by one person? Despite its fantasy nature, LotR is much more realistic and speaks to the heart than other films. The book makes clear (and hopefully the rest of the film) that no one, and no objects mentioned are wasted; they all serve a purpose in the War of the Ring. One aspect that was left out in the theatrical release, but thankfully kept in the extended DVD edition, is Bilbo's pity-as spoken by Gandalf-of Gollum that ultimately saved Gollum's life. Who are we, as Gandalf would ask, to quickly deal out death, when there are so many that die who deserve life, and so many that live who deserve death? As readers of the book know, it was actually Gollum that casts the ring (albeit accidentally) in Mount Doom, and not Frodo. Had Bilbo or Frodo not felt the pity for Gollum, the Quest would have ultimately failed. And I think the film does, and will continue to reinforce these themes. There are a few things the theatrical release leaves out, but are restored (some of them anyway) in the extended DVD edition that are important for the two upcoming movies: The gifts given by Galadriel before the Company's departure from Lorien, with especially the scene of Gimli and Galadriel that has a powerful significance between the relationship between the Dwarves and the Elves. The weapons given to the hobbits by Aragorn atop Weathertop, while in the book they were actually found with help from Tom Bombadil, are also critical to the outcome and hopefully will be for the movies as well. If the movie was to be completely faithful to the book, then 17 years should have elapsed since Bilbo's 111th birthday and the beginning of the quest; the Company spends 2 months in Rivendell before finally setting out on their quest. For pacing reasons (and correctly so), the movie skips over them. I highly recommend viewers read the books if not only to serve as a guide to the movies (the upcoming ones as well). You'll appreciate the depth and richness and the sheer complexity that make reading the 1,000 pages or sitting through over 9 hours of film (if you add up the three movies) so rewarding. I know I didn't describe this so pleasingly, and I have to admit the book is a little slow in the beginning, but you'll finish before you know it. And you'll appreciate the efforts the filmmakers put into making this faithful masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Can movies get any better?!?!?!
Review: If you have not seen the movie then your life is not complete. Lord of the rings is the best movie you can find.I did not read the book, but after i saw the movie i could not help but to go out and buy it right away!(Along with the return of the king and the two towers of course.)Take my advise, The lord of the rings is the best movie in the history of film making..Mr.Jackson is definitly going to be one of the best movie producers,especially if he sticks with this cast!!Hey, I've seen the movie three times and I still can't wait to buy my next movie ticket!!!
Rating:
Summary: Better than the Theatrical Release
Review: If you have not seen the movie yet, get this version. If you never read the books, some of the character's actions in the original release must seem questionable. In this version, much of that is explained. Yeah - it's long, so stop when Frodo wakes up in Rivendell and watch the rest later. Sorry - no Tom Bombadill in this one either, and "Xenarwen" is still here. I think they really blew it by not including the contest between Gandalf and the Eye when Frodo sat on Amon Sul. It hink that that contest is really one of the most important in the book. Other than that, this is probably the most faithfull treatment of a book I have ever seen. Here's too hoping that Xenarwen does not replace the Lady Eowyn entirely. The one second look at Treebeard in the trailer looked great!
Rating:
Summary: This is a movie for those who read the book
Review: If you have read the Hobbit, and the Rings trilogy, you must be missing the world of Middle Earth. The newly released movie "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" will take you back. Everything is here- Frodo, Samwise, Merry, Pippin and all the rest, and the visuals are just the way you imagined it would be. Early in the movie, Gandalf approaches Bilbo's home, and you recognize it from your mind's eye as he approaches. Everything else matches: Rivendale, Moria, and the rest. You probably read the book more than once. You will see the movie more than once also.
Rating:
Summary: This is the best movie i have ever seen in my whole life.
Review: if you have seen the Lord of the Rings in thearters, you know how intense some of the battles are, and how touching some of the senes are. now picture 30 more minutes of that. i thought i could not ask for more, but they are givin it. the extra half hour includes an extenshon of a battle scene and (for those of you who have read the book) the part where gimli the dwarf is given a touching gift from galadriel.
Rating:
Summary: Thank goodness they invented DVD, no more Liv.
Review: If you have seen this movie you know it is a very fine production. This new DVD makes it even better. In addition to having some added material and all the documentories you can stomach it supports DTS, my favorite audio format. Most people have no idea why this is so wonderful, I would invite you over for a screening on my surround sound system so you could begin to understand, but I don't know you. So either go get your own system or take the movie to a really high end A/V store and have them demonstrate for you. The sound is incredible and the movie is even better with the added material. If you have been waiting for this version to come out like me, you should not hesitate it is really worth the extra cash.
Finally I have to say that thanks to DVD you and I no longer have to sit through those few terrible scenes in this movie where Liv proves once and for all that she is without a doubt the worst actress in the history of cinema, one touch of the chapter skip button and she is banished from the screen. How did Jackson manage to write her into all 3 movies when her character is not even mentioned in the Two Towers book? Oh well, it is a long movie I will need a bathroom break at some point, no better time than while Liv reads her lines off the q-cards.
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