The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Tolkien 's works had been put into TV with animation by Rankin/Bass (1977 and 1979). In 1978, Ralph Bakshi had animated the first two books of the famous trilogy to the silver screen. And now, with today's technology, an all-star cast, and a fabulous music score, New Line Cinema has brought the the trilogy to a new level in a live-action spectacle and one of the best film series of the 21th century. Each scene has heart,a bit of humour, heart-thumpin' action, and excellent effects. And I should like to tell you, that Rings is what got me to love four of the film's stars - Elijah Wood,Orlando Bloom,Viggo Mortensen and Liv Tyler, she gives Arwen's first scenes her sultry voice.

In Fellowship of The Ring, I love the first scene after the Pologue : Frodo was reading beneath a tree, hears a male voice singing. He runs to see who it is and finds an old man (Gandalf), wearing a gray cloak and a pointy hat, driving a cart filled with fireworks and suchlike. When the cart stopped, Frodo goes "You're late!" Of course, Gandalf does not look at the Hobbit at first, and then turns slowly, with an emphatic expression on his face that begins to twitch and he said "A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to." Then they both (he and Frodo) slowly begin to grin and crack up into laughter, then Frodo leaps onto cart and hugs the old man and said that he's glad to see him. Another scene from the film I like, is when after Frodo was stabbed by the Witch-king, and Arwen takes him to her father in Rivendell, she faces the Ringwraiths at the Fords of Bruinen and casts a spell on the river to "wash" away the Ringwraiths. I also love the romantic bridge scene in Rivendell, between her and Aragorn, they're my favorite book couple...I am fickle like that.

The best fantasy film I've seen sense...EVER! The writing, acting and directing are all top quality. It may not all remain true to Tolkein's unique vision, well not on every level, but it scores on every level as a new fantasy film. I love the sequence with Galadriel and the woods of Lothlorien especially--and I see it as the truest fantasy moment in filmmaking history. Truly visionary directing here by Jackson, who is more of a naturalist then you'd come to see in a big time hollywood director. He truly worked hard to produce such a masterpiece which works on so many levels, and to see that the actors bring life to their parts--which could have been poorly handled by the wrong ones--i.e., MOST actors in hollywood!

My ONLY negative critism would be that the scenes are filmed very tightly. But when you look at the amount of story that is being made here you can easily overlook it. (The problem is corrected in "Two Towers".) The actors are not all polished up and everything--it has a natural grittiness to it. All in all I feel that this is a rare marvel and occult classic in the waiting. The best fantasy film sense Jim Henson's "The Dark Crystal", and if you don't LOVE this film, well, you must hate fantasy! A must see for all audiances!

The first part of the trilogy was rather well done although it ivolved making some changes and skipping a large percentage of the book. However, you would probably need at least six movies to satisfy all viewer demands. (Each part (or volume) is divided into two separate books.) Events like those in the Old Forest would be fascinating to see portrayed but do not seem as exciting as the adventures that were shown. Of course, many people might prefer to see the Special Extended Edition of "The Fellowship of the Ring," which I have not yet seen at this point. (Please keep in mind that this version is only thirty minutes longer and will still not include portions like the Old Forest and the Barrow-downs.)

"The Two Towers" was also fairly enjoyable although some parts were boring. I do not blame the makers for saving certain events in part two for the third movie since most of Book Six in "The Return of the King" involves events that occur after Sam and Frodo finish their adventures with the ring. Unfortunately, I did not like the fact that the movie did not cover everthing that went on between Gandalf and the Balrog, which would have been short enough to cover, and hope that the company will do so if it produces a Special Exended Edition of "The Two Towers."