Rating: 
Summary: A new dimension to experience the Lord of the Rings
Review: Nearly everyone I knew new that this movie was going to be terrific. One of the great things about the movie is that it can be followed even if you haven't read the books. Everything is made clear and the incidents rarely stray from what happened in the book. My mother thinks that there's too much action and that it's rather corny because things keep happening. The reasoning behind this though is quite clear. It took Tolkien 14 years to write the novel, not novels. The entire tale of the Lord of the Rings was actually covered in one massive book. The publishers decided that it would appeal more to readers if the book was split into threee parts, hence the birth of the Fellowship of the Ring, the Two Towers, and the Return of the King. It's ironic that Peter Jackson, director of the movies, decided to shoot the entire tale, 1st,2nd, and 3rd book, nonstop over the course of 2 years. The reason that the movies are are coming out every December is because all the special effects are still being put into the films. The point is that there is a lot of nonstop action in the Fellowship of the Ring, but do keep in mind that there are still 2 films to come and that the Fellowship of the Ring is not at all a solitary movie. In fact the movie ends where things are just picking up again.
The movie centers around Frodo Baggins, nephew of Bilbo Baggins who returned from a long adventure bearing many riches including a curious ring. Bilbo's adventure is actually covered in the book The Hobbit which preceded the trilogy. Bilbo has left his home in The Shire to seek a calmer life in Rivendell with the Elves. He leaves his home to Frodo who also inherits the ring. Gandalf the wizard a long time friend of the 2 Bagginses and most hobbits, explains to Frodo the horrible truth about the ring. This one ring is actually holding the spirit of Sauron the Dark Lord. Thought to be dead for ages, Sauron still clings to life and he is searcing fro the ring, which wil restore him to full strength. He has employed many beasts to help him accomplish this task. Frodo soon learns that he has destroy the ring. The only way to do this is to toss it back into the chasm of Mount Doom, where it was made. Mount Doom, however, sits in the land of Mordor, which is Sauron's territory. Frodo sets out on his epic quest with the ring. At Rivendell, a Fellowship including Gandalf is formed to assist Frodo is reaching Mordor to destroy the ring. And so the adventure begins...
The second disc is packed with special features including a behind the scenes look at the Two Towers. There are featurettes, televison programs related to the movie, and a lot of information about creating the sets and costumes for the Lord of the Rings. I highly recommend adding this DVD to your collection.
Rating:
Summary: A grand epic on par with the Star Wars franchise
Review: I remember hearing about the Lord of the Rings trilogy coming to the silver screen and shaking my head at the thought of another futile attempt at transferring a great piece of literature to a movie. Well this takes the cake in coming close to what could be deemed a successful attempt.Who the heck is Peter Jackson? I asked when I first heard about the movie(s) project. Do me a favor and rent Dead Alive, a raunchy, campy, neo-horror flick that will induce you to stroke level in realizing the same man directs the LOTR trilogy. He has come a long way since Dead Alive and strikes me as a true visionary in the league of Lucas and Spielberg. My review would only echo the previous reviews. I will say that Viggo Mortensen nails the part as Stryder/Aragorn. He has the aura and intensity that I invisioned in the books. And it just doesn't get any better than Christopher Lee and Ian McKellan as Sauruman and Gandalf. This is a must-have DVD, but I would recommend waiting for the Special Edition with the deleted scenes and other extras.
Rating: 
Summary: strong adaptation
Review: I really did enjoy this film, but, like other reviewers before me, there were some aspects that didn't work for me. My overall assessment is that it is an excellent film. I thought I would point out what I liked the most and the least in this adaptation.
I particularly liked: 1) Most of the cast performed excellently, and those who played Gandalf, Frodo, Bilbo, and Strider, deserve particular mention and praise. They accurately captured the characters from the novels and were charasmatic presences on the screen. 2) The scenic cinematography was just gorgeous and wonderfully diverse, capturing a variety of climates and moods. The Shire was appropriately picturesque, while Moria was amazingly large and daunting. 3) Unlike some previous reviewers I beleieve that Jackson did need to edit incidents, and although all the scenes that were cut would certainly have added to the story (Tom Bombadil, the Barrow Downs etc.) it would have been impossible to include them all. Many of the excisions were well chosen, although missed. 4) A think a fine balance was struck between the great and mighty and the personal. By this I mean both great battles, mighty duels, and the awesome landscape were effectively counterbalanced by Frodo's incredibly expressive face, Gandalf's obvious concern for the hobbits, and other smaller, more personal instances in the film. Gandlf's research in the Library of the White City was a lovely personal moment in the film. I wanted to like the following but I couldn't: 1) While most of the special effects were, well ... extremely effective, there were a few that just didn't work for me. Galadriel's "all will love me and despair" speech looked awful to me, with its photographic negative appearance. I wanted to hear her conflict in her voice, and see it in her bearing, not see a special effect so lacking in subtlety. 2) While the cuts that Jackson made were fine, I didn't feel the same way about the additions. I too feel that Arwen's recue of Frodo and her sole claim to keeping the Nazgul at bay was unecessary, and gave a false idea of the relative strength of the elves and Mordor. I also found the scene where Boromir examines the sword in Strider's presence a strange addition, when the same information could be given to the audience using scenes from the book. 3) Sam. I really wanted to like this performance but I found it so hard. Yes, he captured Sam's innocence, love of Frodo, and inferior intelligence adequetly, but there was an essential "Samness" missing I felt. Sam, in the novel, is headstrong, forthright, and stubborn, and endearing because of these qualities. I felt that the screen Sam was a lot weaker than Tolkein's. (I also found his accent a bit unconvicing.) Hopefully as his role develops in the next two films his character will reveal more of the textual Sam. All things condidered, there is so much to like about this film that the flaws don't strongly effect the pleasure of watching it. It is a strong and beautifully filmed adaptation.
Rating:
Summary: Nice one, but then...
Review: I really enjoyed this DVD. I won't go into any details about the movie, since there appears to be at least one new review every day, and many of them have done a better job than I will. The sound is good, the picture sharp, the documentaries are very nice, a collection of all the tv shows and web documentaries that were made. HOWEVER - there is a commercial for the 4 Disc DVD coming out in November. This is aggravating beyond belief. "Congratulations, you have bought this two-dvd set, now prepare to shell out big bucks for the four-disc set! Chump!!" I don't like surprises like this. I don't like wanting to buy the same thing twice. Oh well - the rest of the sheep and I will probably buy it anyways. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Only just a 3 too...
Review: Well, I thought this was very disappointing.
My wife and I found it so slow going that we ended up watching it in two sittings and even then she fell asleep in the second half.
Amazingly, she found she had missed nothing when she awoke 20 minutes later!
The effects and scenery were very nice, but a film needs so much more than that for me.
To sum this film up I would say it was just very very slow.
Rating:
Summary: This Is The Best Movie Ever!!!
Review: The Lord Of The Rings : The Fellowship Of The Ring is the best movie ever! The graphics in this brilliant movie are great , the acting is wonderful , and the ringraiths , orcs , the cave troll , and the balrog of Moria seemed very realistic. This film , The Fellowship Of The Ring , went along very well with the first Lord Of The Rings book which I have read. I can't wait until The next two trilogy movies of The Lord Of The Rings comes out! Peter Jackson is a fantasic director! This movie deserves five stars because it is indeed wonderful.
Rating:
Summary: "Nobody tosses a Dwarf!"
Review: The first part of LOTR is wonderfully made into a live action film! The movie starts with a long prolouge explaining how the One Ring was made, what happened to it, and where it is now. By strange chances, the One Ring is now owned by Bilbo Baggins of The Shire. Bilbo leaves the ring to Frodo and off to Rivendell. Frodo soon is off on an adventure to destroy the one ring along with a followship; Nine walkers against the Nine riders of Mordor. The locations are amazing and truly look like they're from Middle-Earth. My favorite line is "Nobody tosses a Dwarf!"
Rating:
Summary: I'm not worthy
Review: I'm sure this movie deserves more stars than I'm giving it. But if it's not your thing, it's not your thing, and I don't think this one's mine. I never read Tolkien, and maybe that's the problem. This is a gorgeous movie, wonderfully rendered and quite enticing. But I fell asleep during it, twice. Its just way too much and too long. I had fancied myself a fan of fantasy, and watch quite a bit of science fiction. Princess Bride is my favorite movies. But this was sooooo deep. Its degree of success is probably the reason for my failure to enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: This Movie is one of the best of all time!!!
Review: Sure, it's a little long but when you see how much time and effort they put into this movie it's absolutely breath taking and I don't see how you could become sick of it.I really don't see how anyone could not love this movie. The acting was astounding and I think it should have gotten a lot more Oscars. Ian McKellen did an AMAZING job as Gandalf and he definitely should have gotten best supporting actor. Obviously, I haven't seen the extended DVD edition yet but I know it will be perfect and I will be getting it. You can tell the people who worked on this movie were passionate about the book and making the movie exactly right. They just had to cut out a few things to keep it from being longer and to keep it right for the movies. I have very high expectations for the Two Towers and will definitely be seeing it.
Rating:
Summary: A terrific adventure.
Review: I've never read the book before, but fantasy/adventures always appeal to me (unless it's, shudder, Dungeons and Dragons) so I was rather looking forward to enjoying this film. The story, as it goes, isn't too different from what we usually see in most films of the genre. You see, thousands of years ago on Middle-Earth, an evil wizard named Sauron wanted to control the land with the power of a ring forged from the fires of Mount Doom. Sauron was destroyed, but Isuldur, the king of men, was enticed by the power of ring, and rather than casting it back into the fires, he kept it for himself. The ring passes on after Isuldur's death until it ends in the hands of Bilbo Baggins. The plot gets a bit heavy from there, as there's now a quest and fellowship formed to destroy the ring before Saruman and the evil armies of Mordor can regain their full strength. It will probably anger a lot of Tolkein fans for me to say this, but while I do think The Fellowship of the Ring is great entertainment, it's not without its flaws. As an introductory tale, set-ups can get confusing, and character development, for me at least, was a bit awkward. Sudden flashbacks don't help matters much. Take, for instance, the scene where we see Gandalf held captive by Saruman, then the next time we see him he's talking to Frodo (then they have to do a flashback to how he escaped, kind of jarring, I thought). It wasn't until the halfway mark of this three-hour adventure the film finally hit its mark and never looked back. The first half of this movie is fairly enjoyable, though a bit slow and confusing. The second half, however, is grand adventure, delivering awesome battle scenes and even powerful drama. It's in this hour-and-a-half we see what epic filmmaking can accomplish at its pinnacle. Accompanied by Howard Shore's magnificent score, the fellowship's quest is among the most thrilling and engaging odysseys I've seen on film to date. Perhaps the film's highlight setpiece is through The Mines of Moria, a tense sequence packed with exciting battle scenes and fast-paced chases as the foundation of the Mines begins to crumble around our heroes (is that not just a standard for all adventure films?). Admittedly, the Mines of Moria battle scene does use CGI stuntwork, which has always bugged me (Blade II, anyone?) and it's done no better here, though, thankfully, it's limited to a few very short moments. The performances are confident and assured, with Elijah Wood doing a fine job as Frodo Baggins. Even his British accent sounds genuine. The rest of the cast is all very good, though the standout for me was Orlando Bloom as Legolas, the elf archer who really kicks a lot of Orc ass. Even making a good impression is Liv Tyler, who's usually flat and inexpressive. Okay, so she doesn't show a lot of emotion here, but she's convincing and even quite pretty to look at. Director Peter Jackson was a good choice to helm the picture. His work here is stylish, beautiful, and even quite evocative. Anybody else find it amazing this is the same man who gave us Dead Alive, the goriest film ever made? LOTR's cliffhanger ending probably won't go well with everybody (though the thrilling battle scene before it will certainly leave viewers with an adrenaline rush before the movie's over), but it makes a nice segue for the soon to be The Two Towers, which I now have even higher expectations of. Hopefully, it won't disappoint.
**** 1/2 out of *****
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