Rating: 
Summary: The movie rocks. The DVD extras? Not so much.
Review: I won't review the film itself, since bazillions have already done so and if you're reading this you've probably seen the film and are considering whether to buy *this* DVD. :-)
First, let me say that I own both the theatrical and extended DVD versions of Fellowship and Two Towers, and I fully intend to get the extended Return of the King when it comes out. There is no question in my mind about the tremendous cinematic achievement these films represent.
If you are the type who loves both the theatrical versions and extended versions of the films, then get this DVD.
If you're the type who has to own absolutely every little bit of LOTR film memorabilia, then get this DVD.
If you are the type who really gets off on lots of cool DVD extras, then this release may disappoint you.
Of the three full-length TV documentaries included, the first two are essentially the same, with the same interviews, the same stock footage, even the same narrator. They were produced by the same company, Arden, to air on different TV channels, but they are essentially the same show.
Then there's the National Geographic "Beyond the Movie" documentary... Oy. Don't get me wrong; I've been a NG reader since small kid days. Maybe that's why I found this program so disappointing. An earlier NG special about LOTR examined the mythological and literary roots of Tolkien's world, a subject so rich in linguistic, historical, and literary material that it easily deserved more than the survey-class approach Nat'l Geo gave it. This later NG documentary, on the other hand, really stretches to draw parallels between Tolkien's archetypes and historical figures such as Benjamin Franklin and Theodore Roosevelt. It just smacks of someone's cheesy marketing idea to cash in on the LOTR craze and yet still deliver something of educational value. It's nowhere near Nat'l Geo's usual standard.
The rest of the DVD extras are trailers and featurettes from the film's official website. Interesting and cool, but not new. And do we really need to see another ad for Electronic Arts, I ask you?
In summary, the movie itself is worth 5 stars, but I'm giving the DVD just 4 because the extras are ho-hum. On to the Extended Edition! :-)
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant
Review: I planned on just renting the theatrical cut until the extended version came out, but I couldn't resist. As usual, I was pleased. Return of the King is by far the best part of the story and the most emotionally involved, full of heart felt moments beautifully filmed. Gandalf's despair when Faramir rides off on a suicide mission at the beckoning of the maddened Denethor is too profound for words. Those ten seconds of film depicting Gandalf sitting alone in silence at an empty courtyard, head bowed in a deepened sadness is sentimentally heart breaking. The moments of despair before victory are captured very well on screen, but there is hope when soldiers bravely take up arms and fight to their last breath. The DVDs, as usual, are quite stunning on the television monitor and the extras were plentiful but concentrated more on the emotionality of the Return of the King and summarized the entire story. This is great as you don't really need a rehash of the technical aspects of the movie-making. We're well aware of those from the first two films. Worth all 11 Oscars it won. This will be the greatest classic story to go down in movie history.
Rating:
Summary: Best movie out there - stop grousing about it!
Review: LOTR ROTK (Lord of the Rings: Return of the King) is by far the best of the 3 films, and best out of most films around. Sure, Peter Jackson didn't go word for word on every thing, but how could you? The books are HUGE!!! And for everyone who is complaining about how Peter added a scene here, took one out there, changed the dialogue here and so on, I would like to see you try to stick to Tolkien's books word for word and make a movie, and you know what? I bet you can't! All of you that don't like it should be ashamed of them selves, it's clearly one of the best movies around. The DVD isn't spectacular, but just wait 'till November when the extended version of ROTK will be out. So concluding this review, don't gripe about it and say it wasn't good enough, because you couldn't have done a better job yourself, and be sure to go buy it or rent it.
Rating:
Summary: The King Returns
Review: The film, of course, is magnificent. Featuring the denouement of all that has come before, with great actors to play the parts, gorgeous visuals to enchant us, fantastic special effects, and a glorious score throughout the film, "Return of the King" represents over 3 hours of cinematic genius. It is a nearly-perfect conclusion to the story that was begun in "Fellowship of the Ring" and continued in "The Two Towers." This should not be a surprise to anyone. The DVD presentation of "Return of the King" is of consistently high-quality with the previous two Theatrical version DVD releases. The colors and picture are crisp, and the sound is clear. The Special Features on Disc 2 are well-made and have at least a few moments which should delight most viewers (watch close for Gandalf saying "Bollocks!" in a featured outtake). The National Geographic special included on Disc 2 was a pretty interesting examination of how characters and events in "Lord of the Rings" mirror historical events and personages, such as William Wallace and Theodore Roosevelt. The two "Making Of" features are both good, but they have quite a bit of overlapped material. The featurettes are interesting but not particularly deep. The film itself is simply a masterpiece, and worth buying this DVD just by itself. The Special Features are just gravy, really. And now, finally, I can watch the whole thing, from beginning to end, in a nine-hour marathon! Of course, I fully expect that the Extended Edition DVD to be released late 2004 will be an improvement upon this film, but for now, this version is more than good enough, and I'll be watching it at least a few more times. It's just too good!
Rating:
Summary: Ending Matches the Book
Review: Being a "Lord of the Rings" (LotR) die-hard, I was really concerned that the ending of "Return of the King" (RotK) would not be like the book where Sam comes home and says "Well, I'm back." Well, the movie was true to the book. For first-time viewers, the ending of the movie is kinda like three endings, but it was necessary for those of us who love these books. Having read the books 9 times and read just about every other book on Tolkien and listened to all the radio plays, my expectations were very high for Peter Jackson's trilogy. He did not disappoint. After the first one, I knew we were (finally) in for a real treat. The last one is at least as good as the others. I saw this 5 times in the theaters (the first hour six times, but the IMAX version was too loud for my son). The transfer to DVD is very good and is good for any library.
Rating:
Summary: What a wonderful film...
Review: The Return of the King marks the end to the best trilogy ever made. Peter Jackson and his team got it right with the first two films, and they outdid themselves by combining the best elements of those films, multiplying them by 50, and putting them into this film for an incredible climactic ending to the trilogy. The story is the most emotional and human of the three films (although "Fellowship" comes close). The special effects and action sequences are the best in not only all three of these films, but of all time. What can I say about the DVD? Well first, the quality is absolutely stunning for the film. The picture is nice and crisp, with every color being as vibrant as it should be. The sound is once again in 5.1 Surround, so we get an awesome experience during the action sequences. Nothing was sacrificed in the quality of the film. I didn't give this DVD 5 stars simply because while the movie itself is a 5 star film, the special features aren't as good as the features on the theatrical version DVDs of the first two films, and those weren't even that great. They like to save all the good extra features for the extended cut DVD sets that come out during the holidays. Even so, the theatrical version DVDs of films 1 and 2 still had some special features that this one does not, and these specific features are what I looked forward to the most with these releases. With this DVD, there's no preview of it's corresponding extended cut coming out in December like there was for the first two films. And there's no Annie Lennox music video. The theatrical releases of the first two films on DVD had both previews of their extended cuts as well as a music video for the main theme song. This one does not. Plus, while the National Geographic documentary is informative and interesting, it was released as a single DVD when the film came out in theaters. So if you already bought that, then it's inclusion on this DVD isn't anything special. I did enjoy the first two documentaries on this DVD, although both repeat some of the same interviews and such. But there were things there that I've never seen before, and they were interesting. So if you only want to buy a Return of the King DVD with tons of unique special features, wait for the extended cut that comes out during the holiday season. You'll get an hour extra of footage added back into the film, plus two whole discs of special features. But, if you're like me, needing something to hold you over until the extended edition release, go ahead and cough up the $20 (or less) cost for this release if you plan to watch it again and again so that December doesn't seem that far away. :)
Rating:
Summary: My 2nd favorite
Review: I love this movie. It's got even more action than the 1st and 2nd combined!!!! The only downside is there are so many lose-ends for Peter Jackson to tie up, the ending wasn't satisfying for me. Tying up all the lose ends for various characters just had a "rushed" feel to it. I'm not as impressed with the editing here. So the 2nd movie remains my favorite.
Rating:
Summary: CLASSIC!
Review: Return of the King hits you on more emotional levels than either of the first two films. The viewer is intensely drawn into to the characters of Frodo, Sam, Merry & Pippin. This movie belongs to the Hobbits!
Naturally, Jackson has included everyone yet it seems the 'minor' characters own this tale.
Eowyn (Miranda Otto) is not only breathtaking but finally shows off her inner courage. Theoden (Bernard Hill) is splendid, more animated, more a part of Tolkien's world in ROTK than in 'Two Towers'. Gimli (John Rys-Davies) and Legolas (Orlando Bloom) are two major figures who while they share Aragorn's intense journey of self-discovery 'don't' figure much in the film.
Viggo Mortenson is even more credible as a man on the verge of greatness. He has found his comfort level in this conclusion of the trilogy and does it with a soft-spoken style and intelligence. Yet, primarily, ROTK is an emotional film about friendship and relationships. Sean Astin (Sam) and Ejiah Wood's (Frodo) bond reaches a height most of us could only dream of. Astin is fantastic, as he suffers along with Frodo. And Gollum reaches new heights of treachery as he guides the two Hobbits to Mt. Doom.
I cried in the theater and I sniffled at home with these characters so brought to life by Jackson's wonderful direction. This is a movie for the ages. The viewer can 'almost' forget the special effects for the trust, friendship and yes, fellowship that abounds in Return of the King.
Rating:
Summary: -Explaining it all-
Review: I've read through several of the reviews and noticed some horrible mis-ratings of the movie. This is a truly unjust action.
The movie is an epic that stretches across genre and demographic limits. It applies to everyone today, from the mugger on the street to the preacher in the church. The basic elements here are friendship and Good vs. Evil. When you see the inserted scene of Sam and Frodo parting ways, you can not honestly say it did not jerk a little tear. The only friendship that is truly held close together the whole movie broken up by corruption and greed. Also with the Good vs. Evil, this is the main plot of the movie. Sauron's dark forces wanting to destroy everything in Middle-Earth and turn it all into darkness versus the free people of Middle-Earth. It is a clash of the armies of Darkness against the army of the "Light" so-to-speak. Also to those that are bashing such areas as the ghost and the ending. The ghost were once a powerful army led by Isildur, but they ran out on him and for that he cursed them to never rest until they fulfill their promise to help Gondor. Aragorn purposesly goes into the Paths of the Dead to begin to reclaim who he is and to let the ghost fulfill their promise and be set free. The ending was there for a reason. People wanted a happy ending, that's obvious. Several people I have talked to consider this a sad ending. While it is in some aspects, it's not in others. Yes, Sam loses his best friend in the world and the Elves all leave Middle-Earth because the magic begins to fade. Yet through all this you see Samwise happy with his wife and Bilbo gets to see a place untouched by time before he dies. Just watch the movie carefully and you will come out changed.
Rating:
Summary: The King of DVDs!!!!!
Review: I know...I know. I did a review for the movie when it was out last December, but now it is time to relive the glory of the battle for Middle Earth again on DVD! I was at the local 24 hr retailer at the stroke of midnight to get my copy...and I stayed up until 3 am watching the best scenes. One thing I did notice was that I picked up on a LOT more stuff going on while watching the DVD as opposed to seeing it in the theater. There is so much action going on, that it is impossible to see everything on the big screen. I was highly impressed at the quality of the picture on the DVD....and there seemed to be no defects. All of the actors are wonderful....and I am especially getting a good appreciation for Viggo Mortensen and Orlando Bloom! :) I am sorry...I still like the baddies though....Sauron is the absolute best! I am really looking forward to the extended edition DVD when the Mouth of Sauron shows up to fight Aragorn at the beginning of the last climactic battle at the gates of Mordor. The Mouth of Sauron was left out of the theatrical version, and you can tell when watching it. So, it will be great to see that battle...and the battles between Saruman and Gandalf (the infamous deleted scene)...and the battle between the Witch King and Gandalf where he will lose his staff. So, while the theatrical DVD is a good tider....and whets the obsessed Rings fan's (like me!) appetites, I am still anxious about the extended edition. Bring 'em on New Line!
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