Having read the Fellowship of the Ring prior to the movie's release, I had already prepped myself for a somewhat disappointing experience. You see, after my Harry Potter debacle, I was convinced there was no way any movie which tries to faithfully reproduce the book can live up to it. So it came as a pleasant surprise to me when I found out Peter Jackson and Co. decided to alter Tokien's view of Middle Earth into more of a modern popcorn flick.

    Tokien's original "masterpiece" can get admittedly boring at times. Very boring. As a child of modern sci-fi, I demand awe inspiring fight scenes and fantastic vistas and locales to really trigger the WOW factor in my head. The Lord of the Rings instead focuses more on the Hobbits and their nature rather than their quest to rid the One Ring at Mount Doom. Fight scenes are relegated to one or two pages at most, while eating and sleeping habits of the Hobbits can take up to dozens. At times, I felt like I was reading an anthropology text book on those critters. Badass is definitely not the proper adjective to describe it.

This scene wasn't in THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING!

    However, thanks to the modern CGI capabilities and the public's need for fast paced action sequences, the Fellowship Of The Rings was more enjoyable as a movie than as a book. Tolkien purists will of course be highly offended, and Tolkien himself is probably doing somersaults in his grave, but most everyone else will enjoy Peter Jackson's modern rendition of this classic story.

    Gerry mentioned how, during his second viewing, he enjoyed the movie for what it was (Gladiator 2001), and I couldn't agree more. In my opinion, it's nowhere near the classic status many critics are imprinting it (This generation's Star Wars? Please...), but that doesn't mean it's a dud either. There will always be dissatisfied people no matter how great a movie is, but for the great majority, The Fellowship of the Rings is a fine thrill ride to lose yourself in for 3 hours. No more, no less.