Genre Grandeur – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) – Encore Review 5 – MovieRob

For this month’s next review for Genre Grandeur – Fantasy Movies of the 21st Century, here’s a review of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) by me.

Thanks again to Alan Sanders of the Wilder Ride for choosing this month’s genre.

Next month’s genre has been chosen by me and we will be reviewing our favorite Family Vacation Films

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of Aug by sending them to Familyvacation@movierob.net

Try to think out of the box!

Let’s see what I thought of this movie:

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“A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.” – Gandalf

Number of Times Seen – approximately 17 times (twice in theater including opening night, DVD, 28 Feb 2014, 4 Jul 2018, 5 Jan 2020, 29 Apr 2021, 17 Jul 2021 and 30 Jul 2022)

Link to original review – Here, Here, Here, Here and Here

Brief Synopsis – A young Hobbit is sent on a journey to destroy an evil and powerful ring and along the way is joined by 8 other companions.

My Take on it – I know that this months theme is best 21st Century Fantasy films, but this movies is my all time fantasy film.

The story is put together amazingly and unlike in most film adaptations from books, they are able to surpass the mediocre writing of Tolkien and create such an amazing visual experience with what they present us with here.

The characters are richly developed and the use of cutting edge technology allows them to all come across quite realistically especially given the various differences in size for each of the species shown.

This may only be the first part of a trilogy, but I have always enjoyed this one the most because of the way that the tone swells and surges throughout.

The cast is excellent and Elijah Wood is such a great choice to play the lead as well as Sean Astin as his trusted friend and companion Samwise Gangee.

This film gives the viewer a taste of what is to come with the world of Middle Earth and despite the first part being 3 and a half hours, there isn’t a minute that feels boring, extraneous or too much in the way that this story is told.

For anyone paying attention, I mentioned that this film is 3 and a half hours that’s because the extended edition is the only way one can truly experience this film or any of the one sin the trilogy since the added 45 minutes enhances the story and characters so much that it is impossible for me to even consider watching the theatrical version ever again.

Highly Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Viggo Mortensen joined the movie when it was already shooting, never having met director Sir Peter Jackson before, nor indeed having read the J.R.R. Tolkien book. It was Mortensen’s eleven year old son Henry Mortensen who was the chief instigator in convincing Mortensen to sign on as Aragorn. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (10/10) (no change from original review)

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