Rating: 
Summary: Tolkein done "Action Jackson"-style
Review: We're always hearing how classic films from a generation ago would never be made in today's Hollywood era of short attention spans. Take, for instance, Francis Ford Copolla's 1972 "the Godfather". Turns out he directed that movie in constant fear that Paramount executives would replace him with a "violence director" (Copolla's own phrase), someone who would spruce up the film with more action, as opposed to following Mario Puzo's novel so closely. Thankfully, Paramount resisted that temptation, and Coppola's subtle drama and character study is one of the best movies ever made, based on a book or otherwise.Too bad we can't say the same about Peter Jackson's "Fellowship of the Ring". This is the violence director's version of Tolkein's novel, the movie that, sadly, *is* made in today's Hollywood era of short attention spans. I'm not complaining about the condensation of the novel. There's simply no way to present 400 pages of text in three hours, and cutting is perfectly legitimate, even if it means consolidating lesser characters into one (e.g., Glorfindel into Arwen), losing some (e.g., Tom Bombadil), or even introducing minor plot inconsistencies (e.g., that Aragorn knew to bring swords for four hobbits, when Merry and Pippen came along by accident). Even the loss of character development is acceptable, though surely Jackson has done Tolkein's conflicted yet heroic Boromir a mighty injustice. My main beef is rather that this is the MTV-saturated, video-game-inspired version of Tolkein: all flash, action, and battles with huge monsters worthy of video gaming "dungeon boss" status. It's emphatically not Tolkein's novel, which relies more on subtlety and long-simmering tension to keep its readers engaged. There's no cave troll encounter in the book, no flight across a crumbling maze of stairwells, no orc captain to behead in a nick of time. Gandalf and Saruman do not engage in any ridiculous wizard's duel, hurling each other across a room. And that tentacled creature outside Moria, the one whose limbs our heroes spend a few minutes hacking from the rest of its body? In the book they simply flee it. Many other liberties are taken, all in the attempt to cast as wide a viewership net as possible. One of the saddest is the caricature of the dwarf Gimli. In the book his exposure to the beautiful elven realm of Lorien, and its noble and elegant queen Galadriel, softens his initially suspicious stance towards elves and begins his long friendship with Legolas. The movie chooses instead to play Gimli for comic relief -- clumsy, mistrustful, and without any change after leaving Lorien. And let's not forget the requisite gratuitous love interest, between Aragorn and Arwen. Yes, that does appear in Tolkein's trilogy... in an appendix, and even then it's chronologically well before and after the events chronicled in the main text. New Line Cinema has even possibly shot itself in the foot by electing to import some of the surprises of the later books into their first film, in the hopes of securing a strong audience base at the outset. The land of Mordor is not described in Tolkein's first book, because the central figures have not yet arrived there. All we get is character reaction to its very name, creating mystery to be revealed in later books. Not so in the movie. Saruman's treachery is likewise too far advanced. That he has one of the dangerous palantiri (seeing globes) or that he is fashioning his own orc army we are not supposed to discover until "Two Towers", when the depth of his betrayal is more fully realized. (Not to mention the nuance that's lost in aligning Saruman with Sauron, as opposed to the book's portrayal of him as intending to create a third and independent rival for power.) Jackson even chose to stretch this first movie long enough to cover the Boromir's last stand, which the book prudently saves for the beginning of the second installment, after we have had enough time to digest the loss of Gandalf. There are many other examples, but the real tragedy here is that Tolkein's novel is so good on its own. It doesn't need the steroid treatment New Line Cinema thinks we require. Thank goodness Puzo penned "the Godfather" thirty years ago; today's movie version most certainly would be all violence and action. So I wonder, sadly, how "Fellowship of the Ring" would have turned out with this generation's technology, but the previous one's sensibilities.
Rating: 
Summary: 2 discs of pure joy
Review: We've all heard of it, and we've pretty much all seen it, but nobody can deny how absolutely astonishing this movie is! Peter Jackson and the rest of the crew have created a timeless cinematic masterpiece that I'm certain will only be enhanced by the presentation of the other two films in the trilogy. The DVD of The Fellowship of the Ring not only offers the extraordinary audio and visual quality that's become the standard for DVD, but a slew of bonus goodies that make it all the more worthwhile. Don't hesitate to pick this one up!
Rating:
Summary: Best movie ever
Review: Well I really loved the movie. I mean the acting was great the graphics were totally awsome and the actors were just bravo. What I really loved about it is that at the end of the movie it had me beggen for more. In some parts it made me want to laugh, cry, and also with the cave troll it made me want to jump out of my seat. My favorit actors were Elijah Wood, and Orlando Bloom. Those were my top two but, after them came the three hobbits and the the rest of the fellowship. I just can't wait to go see it again this weekend with my friends. -Sparkie
Rating:
Summary: For those who buy VHS
Review: Well I watched this tape (VHS) last night after it arrived from Amazon (only just released in the UK) and I can confirm that it is excellent. The quality could not be better on DVD I am convinced of that. I bought the VHS because my nephews (Who were not permitted to watch it in cinemas here) will want to see it. I have set them the task of READING THE HOBBIT first as I think this excellent introduction will make them more prepared for the movie release which can be quite frightening I think. So we shall see how they cope with THE HOBBIT and take it from there. Anyway folks...for those 10 people States Side who still buy VHS, It's absolutely excellent and of course save for the extras that so often are the selling point of the DVD medium...you are missing nothing. Cheerio.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best DVD's ever made to an epic film.
Review: Well if your one of the many people that have been waiting for The Two Towers your wait is just about over and it looks
to be that it's worth the wait.For those of you who have the
two disk version of J.R. Tolkien's first book to screen film
The Fellowship Of The Ring will want to get this monsterious
4 disk director's cut of the film,while the first version was
more promotional with it's special features this 4 disk version
is a diffrent veiwing experience alltogether the film now about
3 hours 30 minutes put's a full 30 minutes on the film making
a great film into a masterpeice and that's exactly what Peter
Jackson's film is with lavish cinimatography ,costumes,special
effects,and musical score by Howard Shore. The extra scenes include more of an introduction of Hobbilton ,better charachter development with Aragorn as well
as Galadriel:The Lady Of The Woods and more scenes that add
to spice the film up.Incredible acting from Elijah Wood,Sean
Austin,Kate Blanchett,Vigo Mortensen,Orlando Bloom,Christopher
Lee,John Rayes Davies and Ian Mckellum who are the heart of
this film better charachter development wich is the gift that
Peter Jackson has that George Lucas has been lacking in his
recent Star Wars films. The two disks with the special features provide better and
far more insight on the making of this remarkable film everything
from countless documentarys , to making of stills to production
stills from interviews with the actors to an interactive map to
countless pictures of costume designs for the film much better
then the two disk version , do not view this film any other way
especally if your a fan of Tolkien's books or have seen the film
and even if you haven't seen the film you will be able to see it
as it was ment to be seen , until the highly anticipated Two Towers comes out this month this should please any fan of the film it's a must for any DVD owner.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!!!
Review: Well the movie has definitely lived up to the hype. Prepare yourself for a cinematic feast. A true ensemble cast, fantastic adaptation, unbelievable score, cinematography to die for, Eye candy for special effects. The list goes on and on. If it doesn't garner at least 5 oscars it will have been robbed. I am running out of superlatives. It was that good. 3 hours is a long film, but it really doesn't seem that long. The only thing missing is Tom Bombadil. For some reason, everryone cuts him out. Ah well, it is a must see at least 3 times on the big screen. And don't settle for Pan & Scan on video either!
Rating: 
Summary: Well....they did a good job!
Review: Well they did a wonderful job, but they still left out wwwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy too much. But if they hadn't it would be about 40 hours long (personally I wouldn't have minded). I first read the trilogy when I was six and it has remained my favorite book ever since, some parts I've even memorized. But over all it was a really good movie though it wasn't Tolkin.
But all that aside THE BALROG WAS SO AWSOME, he was perfect and the casting was flawless. Except for Elrond, I just can't get Agent Smith out of my mind. But it was a very good try!
Rating:
Summary: RING O PLENTLY
Review: WELL WHAT CAN I SAY EXCEPT THAT I CANT WAIT FOR THE SECOND AND THIRD INSTALLMENTS OF POSSIBLE THE GREATEST STORY EVER WRITTEN AND IF MY EIGHT YEAR SON CAN SIT THOUGH A THREE HOUR FILM WITHOUT A MUTTER THEN I KNOW IT'S NOT JUST ME WHO THINKS THAT THINKS THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING IS A TRUE MASTER PIECE.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect
Review: Well, as perfect as could be expected given today's audiences and technical and commercial considerations, if you take my meaning.
Perfect: casting, script, location, effects, directing, lighting, Moria.
Merely Good: costuming (Aragorn and the hobbits looked great, but I think Gimli's helm was made of plastic), battle scenes (Moria and the island on the Great River were fantastic, but the Weathertop battle was too easy a win for Aragorn), acting (Agent Smith is Elrond?)
Bad: Galadrial's cheesy "demon voice" was straight out of Evil Dead, lack of back story and motivation for Gimli and Legolas (if you haven't read the books, you'll wonder who these guys are and why they're going with Frodo), film is too short.
Rating:
Summary: This is the best they could have done!
Review: Well, here it is, the marvelous book series is being made into movies. A message to Bill Grant, the reviewer from England: Bill, Bill, Bill. There is no way the worthy director, Peter Jackson, could possibly have crammed all the material and events down to the last detail into one movie. The only changes in the storyline were made to shorten the movie, and even then it is quite long enough at about 3 hours. Why, the only important change was that they left Tom Bombadil and Goldberry out of the script. Other than that, what a marvelous job! One of the best movies I've ever seen. Nothing could possibly surpass that book, but nothing could surpass this movie either. A true work of art, made with tons of effort and research. Buy it.
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