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The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Two Disc Theatrical Edition) [2001]
from Entertainment in Video
starring Elijah Wood|Ian McKellen|Liv Tyler|Viggo Mortensen
directed by Peter Jackson

Features:

• Anamorphic
• PAL
• Widescreen

Editorial Review:

A marvellously sympathetic yet spectacularly cinematic treatment of the first part of Tolkien’s trilogy, Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is the film that finally showed how extraordinary digital effects could be used to support story and characters, not simply overwhelm them. Both long-time fantasy fans and newcomers alike were simultaneously amazed, astonished and left agog for parts two and three.

Jackson’s abiding love for the source material comes across in the wealth of incidental detail (the stone trolls from The Hobbit, Bilbo’s hand-drawn maps); and even when he deviates from the book he does so for sound dramatic reasons (the interminable Tom Bombadil interlude is deleted; Arwen not Glorfindel rescues Frodo at the ford). New Zealand stands in wonderfully for Middle-Earth and his cast are almost ideal, headed by Elijah Wood as a suitably naïve Frodo, though one with plenty of iron resolve, and Ian McKellen as an avuncular-yet-grimly determined Gandalf. The set-piece battle sequences have both an epic grandeur and a visceral, bloody immediacy: the Orcs, and Saruman’s Uruk-Hai in particular, are no mere cannon-fodder, but tough and terrifying adversaries. Tolkien’s legacy could hardly have been better served.

On the DVD: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring two-disc set presents the original theatrical release (approx 171 minutes) on the first disc with a vivid Dolby 5.1 soundtrack and a simply splendid anamorphic print that allows even the darkest recesses of Moria to be glimpsed. The second disc contains 15 short behind-the-scenes pieces originally seen on the official Web site plus three substantial featurettes. The Houghton Mifflin "Welcome to Middle-Earth" is a 16-minute first look at the transition from page to screen, most interesting for its treasurable interview with Tolkien’s original publisher Rayner Unwin. "Quest for the Ring" is a pretty standard 20-minute Fox TV special with lots of cast and crew interviews. Better is the Sci-Fi Channel’s "A Passage to Middle-Earth", a 40-minute special that goes into a lot more detail about many aspects of the production and how the creative team conceived the film’s look.

Most mouth-watering for fans who just can’t wait is a 10-minute Two Towers preview, in which Peter Jackson personally tantalises us with behind-the-scenes glimpses of Gollum and Helm’s Deep, plus a tasty three-minute teaser for the four-disc Fellowship special edition. Rounding out a good package are trailers, Enya’s "May It Be" video and a Two Towers video game preview.--Mark Walker

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

• Beyond breath-taking!
  A magnificently beautiful film. Remaining loyal to the book, Peter Jackson has made a huge leap from his earlier (and FANTASTIC) blood-soaked gore-fests (BAD TASTE, MEET THE FEEBLES and BRAINDEAD) - keep your eye out for a cameo from Lionel's mother from BRAINDEAD as a hobbit in the extended version of this. The action is brilliant, the shots are stunning, the special effects are breath-taking, the acting is superb, and the music is beyond phonemenol. Definetly one of the greatest film (if not the greatest... more info

• A Masterpiece
  If I could, I would give this movie 100 stars. There's nothing I can really say that hasn't already been said - so I'll sum up the trilogy in a few words.
  Epic. Beautiful. Masterpiece.
  A true diamond of modern cinema.

• A feast of the senses...a strength and inspiration
  "The world has changed, I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, I smell it in the air...Much that once was, is lost
  For none now live who remember it."
  So begins the majestic prologue to the movie, The Fellowship of the Ring.
  As the earth and all that is beautiful and good is threatened by a malignant evil, as `One by one,
  the free lands
  of Middle-Earth fell
  to the power of the ring." Like the book, the movie is spellbinding and compelling in the true sense of the... more info

• overated
  boring first installment that promises much and delivers little,it takes a long time to get going and the plot is so hard to follow you just stop caring.

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