Review of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) by Charlie P — 29 Mar 2018

When the evil forces of the evil Lord Sauron (Sala Baker) threaten Middle-Earth, a land populated by peaceful Hobbits, Wise Wizards and Elves, gruff Dwarves and troubled Humans, a young Hobbit named Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) and his brave companions is entrusted to destroy the one thing that can give Sauron unlimited power, The One Ring. But evil forces such as the traitourus Wizard Saruman (Christopher Lee) armies of Orcs, Goblins and Trolls and even the Ring itself with it's seductive qualities will do anything to stop them in thier tracks.

From the opening speech that tells the audience the history of the Ring, right up to the powerful cliffhanger of Frodo and his best friend Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin) leaving the group to destroy the Ring, Director Peter Jackson and his co-writers Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens manage to bring J.R.R Tolkien's world to life thanks to the sweeping use of cinematography of New Zealand to give Middle-Earth a massive scope and Grant Major's impressive production design of locations such as the countryside villages of Hobbiton, the beautiful nature-friendly Elf homes of Rivendell and Lothlorien and the dark forboding caves of Moria brings artist John Howe and Alan Lee's visualisation of Tolkien's world into a believable, yet fantastical reality.

The desision to only focus on Frodo's quest, though purists may disagree, was a smart one as the story itself gives a lot of room in the development of it's characters.

Although Frodo himself is a good wide-eyed innocent forced into an unfriendly world, it's the characters that surround him such as the wise, yet kind wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen), the areformentioned Sam, the powerful elf-lords Elrond (Hugo Weaving) and Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) and the members of the Fellowship themselves such as Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) the destined saviour of the humans of Middle-Earth, the elf prince Legolas ( Orlando Bloom) and the Dwarf warrior Gimli (John Rhys-Davis) and the world building of Middle Earth itself that makes this film such a joy to watch.

Overall despite some dated CGI in terms of how it blends in the amazing practical and model work, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is an amazing experience that few films of this century have topped and is a great start to the greatest fantasy story of all time.