Someone on staff clearly got one of these!

This movie is based on the first book in the Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien. It tells of the magical ring that could give the dark lord Sauron rule over all of the world of Middle Earth. The ring had been lost for centuries only to later end up in the hands of Bilbo Baggins, a venturing hobbit*.

One year, during his birthday party in Shire (the hobbit homeland), he decided to leave the country. He left his belongings to his relative Frodo. These belongings included the ring which he left behind only after much persuasion and reminding from his old friend, the wizard Gandalf. It is soon revealed that Sauron has send out his troops to hunt down whoever possesses the ring. Frodo was forced to move fast and, bringing his gardener Samwise and two relatives, Merry and Pippin with him, he too left Shire.

During their travels, they joined forces with the first seemingly untrustworthy Strider, the elf Legolas, the dwarf Gimli, Boromir and, of course, Gandalf. Together these nine people became the fellowship of the Ring. The fellowship's goal was to see to that the ring would be destroyed. Unfortunately, the only place where this could be done was in Mordor, the land where evil does not sleep... the land of Sauron.

The actors of this film were well chosen and they played their respective roles with much spirit. The American accent of Frodo (played by Elijah Wood) seemed a bit out of place with the accents of the other hobbits in the fellowship. Wood, however, compensated rather well for that with his masterful acting.

The striking New Zealand landscapes combined with computer animated ones, brought Middle Earth to life on film.

A short explonation at the beginning of the movie tells the viewer what happened before the events that take place in Lord of the Rings. This introduction features a larger battle scene with two computer animated armies fighting each other.

A great deal of work must have been laid down on dramatising the plot. Although the spirit of The Fellowship of The Ring was very gloomy, a good deal of humour has been added to the script to lighten up the movie. Especially notable is the script of Frodo's hobbit companions, which prevented the movie from being too one-sided. A few points of the original LoTR was altered.

The Elven princess Arwen was given a more important role, and some events were left out (including the part where Tom Bombadill appears.) As a whole the film is completely watchable. It is not necessary to read the book to be able to follow it.

The language was slightly modernised giving the average viewer a chance to understand the dialogues (there where a few in Elvish though, but those where subtitled.)

The battle scenes were, surprisingly enough, not so bloody.

One of the few things I could find worth complaining about in this film is that a few (rather funny) lines seemed a bit out of place considering the circumstanctes.

The film went through some parts of the story a tad too fast for my taste, but on the other hand it was quite long already.

*For those of you who do not know, hobbits are a short and innocent people.

Rating: 5 fairies
Director: Peter Jackson
Starring: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Liv Tyler, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Sean Bean, Ian Holm, Hugo Weaving, Andy Serkis
Official Website: http://www.lordoftherings.net