If you're like me, you know good and well that movies based on books hardly turn out to be as good as the book. One movie that seems to break this habit is the critically aclaimed movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The action packed first installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy not only appeals to those that haven't read the books, but to those hardcore Tolkien fans as well.
Why so popular amongst those who've read? One must first examine the written work in question. The Fellowship of the Ring is the shortest of the three, (about 400 or so pages long) allowing much more of the actual events presented to be shown on film. Although there were some important details that were omitted, one must admit the way they tied the gaps together was ingenius.
Another plus going for this movie is the choice of actors, and setting. New Zealand (where the movie was filmed) has a beautiful landscape, and with the addition of CGI (computer graphed imagery) one can almost imagine Middle Earth as being a real place. The characters (with their costumes) also seem to have been real.
One element for transitioning from word to image is the musical score. I applaud all those who worked on the score, each piece selected fit perfectly with what was going on in the scene, my favorite being 'Concerning Hobbits', a very uppety and sort of rustic sounding piece, which is a pretty acurate description of our darling halflings.
All in all, the movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring appeals to both those that have read and haven't. It harmonizes with Tolkien's word, good visuals and an astounding score to bring Middle Earth to life. I congratulate all who worked on this, I believe (and perhaps others who think like me) they did a wonderful job transforming this classic into a good film.
