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The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring (Widescreen Edition) Customer Reviews (46 - 48 of 60 Reviews)

And Best Picture Should've Gone To...
"The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring" was the one movie at Oscar time that truly deserved to rule them all. Alas, its chances were weakened by the fantasy theme and silly little complaints about the ending, and we all had to watch with dropped jaws as the fine, but far-from-great "Beautiful Mind" ended up taking the top trophy instead. A shame.But enough about all that meaningless award stuff. "Lord Of The Rings" is an epic, grand adventure in the tradition of such beloved films as "Star Wars" and, well...no other examples spring to mind. Of course, that's the beauty of this film: its ability to sweep us into a dream world the way so few can.There are only a handful of folks who don't know the plot, but I'll extend the courtesy to unfamiliars in a brief synopsis. Young hobbit Frodo (Elijah Wood) is given the task of transporting a powerful, dangerous ring (created by the evil entity Sauron) to its destruction -- and that's no easy job. He is helped on his journey by a great wizard (Ian McKellan), a noble warrior (Viggo Mortensen), and a variety of other useful creatures and friends, who together form The Fellowship Of The Ring. Their main distractions come from another, more powerful wizard (Christopher Lee), who appears to be in alliance with Sauron.There isn't enough room available here for me to go on about how excellent "Fellowship" is. I would, however, like to point out my fondness for the director, Peter Jackson (whose other credits include the fascinating "Heavenly Creatures" and the fun "Frighteners"), who has taken his vision of a classic book and so lovingly applied it to film -- he makes no missteps whatsoever. I would also like to say that I had no problem falling into the fantasy of all this; the special effects are stunning and the story is told at a good pace. Congrats, as well, to the actors, none of whom have trouble finding their characters.The last thing to discuss here is the much-debated ending (worry not, Amazon.com customers, I offer no spoilers!). Many feel that it just leaves you hanging. Others, like me, believe that it is a perfect, highly appropriate and nicely timed conclusion to a new masterpiece in modern cinema.

A truly deserving blockbuster...
Since the J.R.R. Tolkien authored books lodged itself as one of the most-read books of the century, The Lord of the Rings trilogy has long been considered unfilmable. There's a very good reason for this: the trilogy is practically a universe unto itself, with dense subplots, poems, languages and characters to scare even Cecil B. DeMille.

Fortunately, Peter Jackson took on the Herculean task and gave viewing audiences something that is very rare in American cinema: big action adventure movie in which ground-breaking special effects take a back seat to plot, character development and moral vision.

The film does not disappoint on any level. Although some of Tolkien's more beloved characters are left out, Jackson still manages to strike the perfect balance between placating the fans and attracting neophytes. Although I had never read the books before watching the film, because of the films I have become a devoted LOTR fan. For a film of its length and extent of plot, Fellowship of the Ring is still immensely watchable.
In brief, buy it today! You won't be disappointed and the DVD extras provide an even better appreciation for this masterpiece.

Overwhelmingly fabulous, start to finish.
Really, that title sums it up. Simply gorgeous, a compelling storyline, and if hardcore Tolkein fans are at all correct, it's very true to the book. I barely remember much of anything at all from the original text, so the movie was "new" to me in many places. All of the cast members excelled in their roles, most notably Sir Ian McKellan, Viggo Mortensen, and Hugo Weaving. The special effects were outstanding - the Ringwraiths were terrifyingly spooky, and the computer-generated landscapes breath-taking.

I have only two complaints about the film (which, given its considerable length, isn't much:)

1.) The Hobbits' feet. While the Fx team did an amazing job hacking the human actors' legs off at the knees (pretty much,) the large, rubbery, obviously-fake bare feet were just appallingly awful. With everything else done so well, it seems they could have done a better job here.

2.) The Cave Troll's animation - it seemed clunky and out-of-date to me. With the incredible CGI work elsewhere, this scene stuck out horribly.

That's it! For a 178-minute film, two nitpicky criticisms seems pretty darned good to me. The original story the writers were working with was rich and full, and they've done it justice here. I could go on and on about how indescribably beautiful it all was, veritably frothing at the mouth and drooling as I try to convey the depths of my enthusiasm, but really, you should just go and see it for yourself, if you are among the 14 or so people who have yet to fight the lines for a seat. It was well worth standing in line for an hour in 20-degree weather.

Beyond "highly-recommended;" absolutely required.

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