Rating: 
Summary: Horrible, Pretentious Environmental Psychobabble
Review: DO NOT waste your money or your time on this video. The only reason I didn't give this drivel 0 stars, is because it wasn't an option. If this movie is supposed to be about the influences that shaped J.R.R. Tolkien's writing, it is seriously lacking in some of his most fundamental influential elements: Tolkien's devout Catholicism, Tolkien's friendship with Oxford colleague C. S. Lewis and Tolkien's family life (the fact that he wrote much of his material for his wife and children) are completely ignored. Instead, the folks at National Geographic seem to have opportunistically decided to glob onto the success of the Lord of the Rings movie in order to push a left-wing anti-capitalism environmental agenda. For sheer pretentiousness, the ending in which we are asked the rhetorical question "Who will be the ringbearer?", takes the cake - it sure sent my gag reflexes into overdrive.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Companion Piece to The Movie.
Review: This National Geographic Beyond the Movie is a great companion piece to the movie. Though the video has a strong ecological and environmental message (it's a National Geographical piece after all), the video does much more than examine the conservationism of Tolkien. In fact, the main purpose of the video is not environmentalism, but an examination of how the fantasy world of Middle Earth that Tolkien created was rooted in the realities of our own world.Tolkien strongly stated several times throughout his life that THE LORD OF THE RINGS was not a modernist fable or allegory about the World Wars or Industrialism vs. Agriculture or anything like that. THE LORD OF THE RINGS is simply a story; one of the greatest and most detailed fictional stories of all time perhaps, but a story nonetheless. However, THE LORD OF THE RINGS was influenced by all that had affected Tolkien in his life. This special illustrates how some of those events inspired THE LORD OF THE RINGS: how the rural agricultural area where Tolkien was raised helped inspire the Shire; how WWI influenced Tolkien's view and description of the War of the Ring; how the endangered Finnish language helped Tolkien create the Elvish language. The tape includes interviews with lots of people including one of Tolkien's remaining living friends, Tolkien scholars, linguistic experts, anthropologists, environmentalists, actors on the set of THE LORD OF THE RINGS, and even Peter Jackson himself. There is quite a bit of archival footage (for a 60 minute tape) and there are also a few snippets from scenes of the two remaining THE LORD OF THE RINGS movies to be released. The documentary went into a great detail discussing how various elements and events affected Tolkien's grand epic. However, there was one very important part of Tolkien's life that affected THE LORD OF THE RINGS, that the video did not even mention. The tape does not mention anything at all about Tolkien's devout Christian faith. Though Tolkien firmly stated that THE LORD OF THE RINGS was not a Christian allegory (like many of the writings of his good friend C.S. Lewis), he never denied that his faith played a role in what he wrote and how he wrote it. Tolkien's faith was the most important part of his life and to not even acknowledge the importance it played is shameful. Overall an enjoyable special great for any THE LORD OF THE RINGS fan, Tolkien fan, and anyone interested in learning more about J.R.R. Tolkien.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, but not enough depth
Review: First off, let me say that there is a lot of content in this DVD about Tolkien's influences, and this is a tremendous help in thinking about The Lord of the Rings. WWI, WWII, Beowulf, and the Kalevala were all important influences, and like most literature, the Lord of the Rings can be somewhat mysterious without knowing about it's cultural groundings. As such, this video will be of tremendous value for the uninitiated. My frustration with this video stems from the fact that it mentions a number of these connections, tourbook style, without exploring any of them in any depth. For example, the video mentions Beowulf as an influence, but fails to explain *what* it influences or where you can find its signature in Lord of the Rings. It mentions Tolkien's experience in World War I, but fails to explain *how* it influenced his work. And it also fails to look more than superfically at the complex relationship between Lord of the Rings and WWII (yes, Tolkien denied that the Lord of the Rings was an allegory for WWII, but was very careful not to say that the Lord of the Rings was not influenced by or not applicable to WWII). Additionally, I feel National Geographic has hijacked the Lord of the Rings for some of their favorite causes in this video. There is a very long segment on the Kalevala which never touches on its revelance to Tolkien, but does tell us that languages are dying out and they should be saved as they have cultural significance. Doubtless true. There is another long and melodramtic piece at the end, which compares an environmentalist's 1000-mile trek through Africa to get some publicity for the flora and fauna endangered by man's activities to the journey of Frodo, which seemed a little grandiose to me (whether or not there were hordes of armed men trying to kill him, or whether he ran any serious risks at all, is not mentioned). The thing is, while the Lord of the Rings certainly preaches the good of the natural world, environmentalism is not one of it's root values in my opinion (the mining, manufacturing, worldly-good-obsessed Dwarves are stalwart good guys whom Sauron could not corrupt, after all. None of the book on Tolkien that I've read have seriously mentioned environmentalism as a theme in the same was as they have for, say, Stephen R. Donaldson's Covenant books). Alan Lee ends the DVD with a pitch for saving the environment and ending war by asking "who will be the ring-bearer?". Despite the apparent obviousness of the Good vs. Evil and Evil vs. Nature themes, Tolkein's work is one of amazing depth and subtelty and to try to apply such black-and-white interpretations does not do the book (or movie!) a service. Frodo would never have made it 10 miles without his friends, the Fellowship, the gifts of Galadriel and Bilbo, the hospitality of Elrond, Faramir and Tom Bombadil, or the sacrifice of Gollum (just to pick a few); not to mention that he rose to the challenge of a task thrust upon him. To apply such simplistic metaphors to a work of the depth of the Lord of the Rings is dangerous. Now, it may sound like I'm coming down pretty hard on the video, and it's true that it could have been a heck of a lot better. However, despite these flaws, the video is still quite a good introduction to Tolkien's influences. However, I highly recommend you follow it up with a read of T.A. Shippey's excellent and highly readable "J.R.R. Tolkien : Author of the Century". It is everything this video is not, and it really explores Tolkien's influences and themes in some depth.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Documentary
Review: I believe this is a great little movie, why you ask? Well if you loved the movie, the Lord of the Rings, you will love this. It deals with JRR Tolkien, and his history and how the book he wrote came to be, mix in scenes from the movie and the next, I could clearly see the horsemen of the Rohan in some clips and also some scenes that were not in the movie were on this disk. Plus you have interviews from the main actors and how the elven language came to be. Its a great buy and a great watch. Only downfall I saw was that Viggo Mortenson, the actor that played Aragorn in the movie was not interviewd. Nor the actor that played Gimli. All in all though it's great and a must have for any fan.
Rating:
Summary: Some good, some not.
Review: I found the DVD interesting when covering the background of Tolkien's life and esp. his interest in mythology and the Finnish language. I thought it odd that his deeply held Christian belief and its effect on his writings never came into it, but that National Geographic made a nonsensical analogy of LOTR's monumental struggle of good vs. evil to today's environmental movement.
Rating:
Summary: It'll hold you over for a while
Review: This DVD provides an interesting, concise look into Tolkien's eternal epic, 'The Lord of the Rings.' Interviews with people who knew Tolkien as well as the stars behind the new movies (including Peter Jackson and Elijah Wood) tell the story of the man behind the legend. An educating and entertaining movie- this is worth the money because of the movie footage alone. I only gave four stars, however, because the program does go off on a typical National Geographic tangent about saving the rain forest at the end. Like I said, this may be enough to hold you off for a while until the movie comes out- rumors now claim August 6.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Look at what influenced the LOTR
Review: The novel The Lord of the Rings and the movie The Fellowship of the Ring are both magnificent. After reading the book and seeing the film one is left to wonder how Tolkien came to write such a fascinating work of literature. This DVD/VHS by National Geographic probably does the best in answering that question than anything to date. In addition, it delves into how the movie was created including how some scenes were modeled after events in Tolkien's life. I was afraid that having a look into the things that influenced the writing of the LOTR might take some of the magic out of the story for me. But, in fact, the opposite happened. This video has given me a new level on which to appreciate the genius of the both book and the movie. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Great behind the scenes look at FOTR
Review: I popped this DVD in last night and was surprised. I guess I shouldn't be, with National Geographic producing this. The DVD does a great job of exploring the events that influenced JRR Tolkien, including Industrialization and World War I . I was also surprised with the footage and interviews. These are not interviews of some random Tolkien "experts", but with his best friend, war buddy, and also the man Peter Jackson himself. The rest of cast speaks also, some in full costume on the set. There is tons of footage from the movie. This adds a lot to the DVD. There is also an in-depth study of the origins of the Elfish Language. Very nice. My favorite part of the DVD was seeing how the filmmakers modeled Hobbiton after the childhood village of Tolkien. The bridge is exactly the same! Cool stuff. The houses look just like the village of Bree. Overall, this DVD is a worthy effort. It gives an in-depth look at the origin of the novels and also the movie.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting
Review: I thought it was very interesting. I was intrigued by the ideas of Tolkien'a life as presented by National Geographics. As well as the influences that went into the "Lord of the Rings." I found it very insightful. I've studied Tolkien before maybe that is why I enjoyed this more than other reviewers.
Rating:
Summary: Has nothing to do with the film.Do not buy it.
Review: I purchased this DVD hoping to find an exploration into the historical and anthropological background to Lord of the Rings. Did it deliver? Well...sort of. It gives us some information (precious little) about the life and times of J.R.R. Tolkien - but nothing much that we did not all ready know: he fought in World War I, he was from the English countryside and was not a fan of industrialization, he was educated and taught at Oxford, etc. Some insight is provided into the historical aspect of the Trilogy. Tolkien was heavily influenced by Beowulf and Anglo-Saxon history. Most illuminating was the discussion of the Nordic Kalevala, and the possible roots of Elvish. (For all you MST 3K fans out there, the Kalevala is the source of the Sampo). Where I feel the documentary went wrong is that there is not enough of such material. Instead, it comes off as too much of a plug for the movie The Fellowship of the Ring. It is chock full of interviews with Peter Jackson and the cast and would certainly be at home as an extra on the DVD. It also tries to justify its existence by providing parallels between themes in the book (like nature conservation) and our world today. Unfortunately, we live in a time when we seem to be at war every other year. Sauron's and Saruman's abound. It is not too hard for us to find the parallels between Earth and Middle-earth for ourselves. As Christopher Lee puts it at the end of the documentary, "Where is the Ring Bearer now?" Where indeed?
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