I had heard about The Lord of the Rings at different times, but I never really knew what it was about. Then I started to see previews for the movie version of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. I saw the movie in the theater and that began my love of The Lord of the Rings. I’ve watched The Fellowship of the Ring several times and bought the Extended Version DVD of the movie. I saw The Two Towers in the theater and plan to get the Extended Version DVD of that movie as well. I’m looking forward to seeing the final movie, The Return of the King.

Many years ago in Mordor, special rings were made and given to the leaders of the elves, dwarves, and men. What they didn’t know was that another ring was forged, The One Ring of Power. That ring could control the others. Sauron, a dark lord, used the One Ring to try to take over Middle Earth. Some fought against him and his warriors. A man, Isildur, managed to defeat Sauron and get the ring. Isildur had the chance to destroy the ring, but he didn’t do it. The ring corrupted him and then betrayed him. It was lost for many years until a creature named Gollum found it. He had the ring for 500 years before he lost it and Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit, found it.

Bilbo lived in the Shire. Many hobbits there were preparing for a party to celebrate his 111th birthday. Bilbo started to write a book about his adventures and was trying to hide from some of her relatives. Gandalf the Grey, a wizard, arrived to see Bilbo. The two went on an adventure together years ago. After that, Gandalf turned up in the Shire to visit every so often. Some of the hobbits were not happy to see him. The children loved his fireworks though. Bilbo talked about his plans to leave the Shire. He was going to leave his home to his nephew, Frodo. Later that evening, everyone was shocked when Bilbo vanished from his party.

Gandalf realized that something was going on. He managed to get the ring away from Bilbo. Gandalf then talked to Frodo, telling him to keep the ring safe and secret. Gandalf left to do some research. Something about the ring bothered him. He discovered something that made him think Bilbo’s ring was the ring of power. He returned to the Shire where his fears were confirmed. He told Frodo about the ring. The Ringwraiths, servants of Sauron, were looking for the ring. They could sense the ring, especially when it was used. The ring wanted to be found and returned to Sauron. Gandalf said that the ring must be destroyed. He told Frodo to go to Bree while he went to see another wizard, Saruman the White at Isengard, about the ring. Gandalf sent Sam, another hobbit along with Frodo. They met up with two other hobbits, Merry and Pippin went with them to Bree. They encountered Ringwraiths more than once.

Gandalf told Saruman what was going on only to discover that Saruman already knew that and more. He was working for Sauron and wanted Gandalf to join him. The two fought when Gandalf refused. Sauron was in contacted with Saruman and gave instructions for creating an army. Saruman created an army of Uruk-hai in caverns beneath Isengard. Weapons and armor were being made in the caverns as well.

Frodo met Strider, a man who knew Gandalf, in Bree. He also knew about the ring. Strider helped Frodo and the other hobbits avoid the Ringwraiths. He got them to Rivendell, home of the elves. Arwen helped to rescue Frodo after he was injured and her father Elrond, treated the injury. Elrond was involved in the fight against Sauron before and was there when Isildur failed to destroy the ring. Elrond doesn’t believe men are strong enough for what is coming. Gandalf believes there is one man who could unite and lead the men.

There was a council meeting in Rivendell with men, elves, dwarves, Gandalf, and Frodo to discuss the ring and what must be done. Boromir, a man from Gondor, wanted to keep the ring and use it against Sauron. It was revealed during the meeting that Strider was really Aragorn, heir of Isildur and the thrown of Gondor. He had a complex past that included Arwen. Elrond told them that the ring must be destroyed and that it can only be done in the fires of Mt. Doom where the ring was forged. There were arguments about who would take the ring. A fellowship consisting of Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Boromir, Gandalf, Gimli the dwarf, and Legolas the elf was formed.

Saruman was able to track the fellowship’s progress and cause them trouble. They have to face many obstacles on their journey like trolls, orcs, Uruk-hai, and the growing power of the ring. There were conflicts within the fellowship. They did met Galadriel, a powerful elf, in Lothlorien.

Cast

Elijah Wood - Frodo Baggins
Ian McKellen - Gandalf
Liv Tyler - Arwen
Viggo Mortensen - Aragorn/Strider
Sean Astin - Sam
Cate Blanchett - Galadriel
John Rhys-Davies - Gimli
Billy Boyd - Pippin
Dominic Monaghan - Merry
Orlando Bloom - Legolas
Hugo Weaving - Elrond
Sean Bean - Boromir
Ian Holmes - Bilbo
Andy Serkis - Gollum

Peter Jackson - Director

The Fellowship of the Ring was released in December of 2001. The movie was based on the book by J.R.R. Tolkien. The movie was 178 minutes long and rated PG-13 for some violence and scary images. It is available on VHS and DVD. There are two different versions of the DVD available. I’ll discuss that later in the review. I don’t think young children should see this movie, but it could be all right for older children to see.

I have not read any of The Lord of the Ring books yet, but I plan to. I don’t know how close this movie stayed to the book version of The Fellowship of the Ring. I’m sure things were changed though. Anytime a movie is made based on a book things are changed. I do think that people can watch and enjoy the movie without having read the books first. I have read The Hobbit, the book that came before The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I read it after I saw this movie for the first time. That book told how Gandalf and Bilbo met and about the adventure Bilbo found himself on. The book also explained how Bilbo got the ring. There were a few things that were mentioned in the movie of The Fellowship of the Ring that seemed to tie back into something that happened in The Hobbit. People don’t have to read that book first, but it does add a lot.

The Fellowship of the Ring was the first part of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. There was a lot going on throughout the movie. Nothing was really resolved by the end of The Fellowship of the Ring. The story will continue in The Two Towers and The Return of the King. The Lord of the Rings was one long story that was split into three parts when the books were published. Each part tells only a portion of the whole story, and is not meant to stand alone. All three parts must be read, or in the case of the movies, watched, to see the whole story and get to the final resolution. Several things that happened in The Fellowship of the Ring were setting up things that would happen in the next part of the story.

The Fellowship of the Ring was a wonderful movie. I loved it. It was a long movie, but I was never bored. The movie was very interesting and engrossing to me. The only thing that disappointed me when I first saw it was that I’d have to wait a year to see The Two Towers and two years for The Return of the King. I just watched the movie again and I still love now. Now I am really impatient to see The Return of the King. The Fellowship of the Ring was absolutely amazing and I don’t understand why it didn’t win more Oscars.

The Fellowship of the Ring was a fantasy adventure. Frodo and the other members of the fellowship started off on a quest that would change their lives. The movie was full of magical creatures, wizards, elves, dwarves, goblins, trolls, hobbits, and orcs. The movie showed what would lead to a battle between good and evil in Middle Earth. I loved the fantasy aspects of the movie. I now want to start reading fantasy books, after I get through The Lord of the Rings. People who don’t like fantasy may not like this movie.

I didn’t think that The Fellowship of the Ring was scary, but some people might. There were some things that happened that I think would scare children. The Uruk-Hai were vicious fighters and did look a bit scary. There were some fights at different times in the movie and they did get violent, especially near the end of the movie. Some characters were injured or killed. The movie may be too violent for some people. I do think it is too violent for young children. There were several moments in the movie that I thought were suspenseful. I never knew what would happen next. Since there really wasn’t any resolution at the end of the movie, that was suspenseful as well.

The Fellowship of the Ring took place in different locations in the fictional world of Middle Earth. The locations for the movie were beautifully created in New Zealand. They looked like real places that had been around for ages. Places like the Shire, Rivendell, and Lothlorien were beautiful and looked to be full of history and culture. Isengard started out as a beautiful, peaceful place. It changed drastically into a dark, gloomy base for the Uruk-Hai army Saruman created for Sauron. It didn’t look like the same place anymore. The Mines of Moria also looked to be a gloomy place. The world of Middle Earth was created in such a way that it looked like a real place. There were ruins at different places that looked like they had been around for hundreds or even thousands of years. A lot of care was taken in creating Middle Earth and it showed in the movie. The different locations in the movie had been influenced by the different cultures that lived there. Elves lived at Rivendell and Lothlorien, but they were different types of elves, so the places looked very different. Places that were under the control of Sauron were darker than places that were still free of his rule.

The different cultures in The Fellowship of the Ring had different clothing and weapons as well. Hobbits were short, had large feet and didn’t wear shoes. Elves didn’t wear the same type of clothing as dwarves or men. They had pointed ears and moved gracefully, even when fighting. Elves tended to fight with bows and arrows, but Legolas used a sword at times. Gimli, a dwarf, used an ax. Dwarves were taller than hobbits, but shorter than men or elves. Aragorn mainly used a sword of some type. There wasn’t too much armor shown in this movie, but some was shown. Different cultures had different types of armor as well. The armor and weapons were made specifically for the movie. The costumes and weapons looked authentic. Some characters, like the hobbits and elves, required special makeup to create some of their features like feet or ears. Those things looked very believable.

Special effects were used throughout The Fellowship of the Ring. At the beginning of the movie, when the history of the ring was explained, a scene from the battle against Sauron was shown. There were thousands fighting on both sides. I’m sure that many of the warriors in that scene were created by computer, but they looked realistic. Later in the movie, there were other shots that showed large numbers of orcs or Uruk-Hai and I’m sure effects were used for those shots. I am pretty sure that the troll was created that way as well. I thought all the effects were very well done.

The sound was wonderful throughout The Fellowship of the Ring. There were all kinds of sounds that added a lot to the movie. The sound blended in and made things seem more realistic, like the sounds of the swords hitting each other. The ring would call to characters, and a voice was given to the ring. It was sort of a whisper that sounded very creepy. The sounds used when the Ringwraiths were around were also very creepy. The sound in this movie makes me want to run out and buy a surround sound system. The movie had a beautiful score. Music played during most of the scenes. The music that was used matched up well with what was going on in the movie at that point. There were a few times when the music was a little too loud, making it difficult to hear what was being said.

The acting in The Fellowship of the Ring was very good. After seeing the movie, I can’t imagine anyone else playing any of the parts. I’ve read that someone else was originally cast as Aragorn and that the part was recast just days before shooting started. Viggo Mortensen was wonderful in that role. He became Aragorn. No one else could play the part like he did. I’ve seen Viggo in several movies over the years, but he’s usually been in more supporting roles. I’ve always liked him. His role as Aragorn has shown how talented he is as an actor to a wider audience. Liv Tyler and Cate Blanchett each had small roles, but they were very good in them. Ian McKellen was perfect as Gandalf. I thought that Elijah Wood was fine as Frodo. When I first saw the movie, I didn’t know who John Rhys-Davies was. Then I discovered that I’d seen him in other movies. I recently saw him in The Medallion. He looks completly different as Gimli than he has looked in any other role I’ve seen him in. He is a big man, and Gimli was a short dwarf. He looked very believable in the part. Many other characters also looked shorter than they really are. I think this was Orlando Bloom’s first movie. He was very good as Legolas. I saw him in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl earlier this summer. His character in that movie was very different from Legolas. Several of the characters spoke in a different language in the movie. I think the only other language spoken was Elvish, but I could be wrong. Tolkien created the different languages when he wrote the books. The actors had to learn how to speak the languages. I think they did a very good job with that. It sounded believable when the characters spoke Elvish.

CHARACTERS

Frodo Baggins - A hobbit who received a powerful ring from his uncle Bilbo. Frodo ended up going on a journey to destroy the ring.

Sam, Merry, and Pippin - Friends of Frodo. The three ended up going on the journey with Frodo. They were very loyal to their friend.

Gandalf the Grey - A wizard who was friends with Bilbo and Frodo. Gandalf learned that the ring Frodo had was the ring of power. Gandalf went on the journey with Frodo.

Saruman the White - A powerful wizard in Gandalf’s order. Saruman was higher up in the order. He was working with Sauron

Elrond - Elf who fought against Sauron years before. Elrond was there when Sauron was defeated. Elrond is Arwen’s father.

Arwen - Elf who is in love with Aragorn

Aragorn - Heir of Isildur and the throne of Gondor. He spent time with the elves when he was growing up. He and Arwen are in love, but their relationship is complicated. Aragorn turned his back on his destiny. He was afraid he would be weak like Isildur. Aragorn was loyal and determined to help Frodo. Aragorn was very conflicted about things in his life.

Gimli - A dwarf who was part of the fellowship traveling with Frodo.

Legolas - Elf in the fellowship. He was very good with a bow and arrow.

Boromir - Man from Gondor in the fellowship. He was tempted by the ring the very first time he saw it.

Galadriel - Elf leader at Lothlorien. She was very beautiful and wise.

DVD FEATURES

There are two DVD versions of The Fellowship of the Ring. One version has the theatrical version of the movie with some extras on two discs. The other is the Extended Version of the movie. The Extended Version is 208 minutes long thanks to added footage. It has four DVDs that contain many more extras about the making of the movie. I have the Extended Version DVD. I thought that the additional minutes added a lot to the movie. There were some completly new scenes in the movie and some scenes that had some additional footage added to them. Some of what was added were just some small things, but those things really helped with the development of characters and to explain some other things. This version of the movie also contains some new music to go along with the new or longer scenes. The Extended Version can be bought alone or as part of a gift set. I didn’t get the gift set because I already had the other DVD that came with the set.

The case for the Extended Version of The Fellowship of the Ring unfolds and has a spot for each of the four DVDs and for the booklet that came with the movie. Each DVD has an illustration of a different location in the movie. Behind the spot where each DVD is, there is a larger illustration. On one panel there is a map of part of Middle Earth. The journey of the fellowship was marked with a red dashed line. Another panel has an illustration of the fellowship right inside the entrance to the Mines of Moria. It took me a little while to find some places on the map because it is smaller. There is a small booklet that came with this DVD set. It had some information about this version of the movie and the extras. There are a lot of extra features in this DVD. I’m not going to go into a lot of depth with them because it would take too long t discuss them all that way.

There are four commentaries for the movie. Peter Jackson, the actors, writers, and people from the design and production teams took part in the commentaries. I haven’t take the time to listen to those yet. This DVD has the widescreen version of the movie. The movie itself is on two DVDs. The discs have to be changed right after the fellowship is formed, but before they leave Rivendell.

The third and fourth DVDs contain all the extras. There are documentaries that follow the making of the movie, how the book was adapted into a movie, how locations were found and created, special effects, music, the making of costumes and the many creatures of the movie. There was also one about J.R.R. Tolkien. There was an interactive map of Middle Earth that followed the journey Frodo, and then the fellowship went on. There was a gallery of images of art, one of photos from the making of the movie, and the story boards for the movie. There are still a few extras that I haven’t watched yet, but I have really enjoyed the ones I have seen. I thought it was fascinating to see how Middle Earth was created and the movie was made. The care that was taken with creating the locations really showed in the extras. A lot of very talented people were involved with the process. I thought that the extras that showed how different aspects of how the movie was made were very interesting.

I loved The Fellowship of the Ring. It is a wonderful movie that is definitely worth watching at least once. Fans of the books or of fantasy may also enjoy this movie.

Related Reviews
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers ~ The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ~ The Lord of the Rings Official Movie Guide ~ X-Men ~ X2: X-Men United ~ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl ~ The Medallion ~ Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World ~ The Missing ~

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older