I loved the movie, with a few reservations (seen it twice, want to see it again) and I've read the book something like ten times and adore it completely. But I do realize it's not for everyone. I finally saw Harry Potter recently, but I didn't like it nearly as much. I've read the books and don't think they compare to LOTR--actually, they're quite different, I'm not sure why you WOULD compare. But I saw HP with my parents, and also saw LOTR once with them. My mom has read two HP books and read LOTR once years ago, and my dad is not very interested in that type of fantasy and hasn't read either HP or LOTR at all. Both my parents agreed that LOTR was much better than HP, though we all enjoyed HP. HP was good, but a few times I was surprised to see the effects looking a bit fake--and if either movie ever felt boring to me, it was HP. (I agree, though, that the battles in LOTR went on too long--the major battles come in the second and third parts!!).
With the exception of a few somewhat cheesy moments (Galadriel!), I thought LOTR looked so real. Apparently they strove for a historical rather than fantasy look, and I think they succeeded. Even if the special effects are basically good quality, in my experience with films of fantasy books, it just tends to come across looking fake. But this seemed really real, and I congratulate them for that. My favourite thing about the LOTR book is the reality of the world it creates.
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Your sun so bright it leaves no shadows, only scars
Carved into stone on the face of earth
The moon is up and over One Tree Hill
We see the sun go down in your eyes
[This message has been edited by scatteroflight (edited 03-13-2002).]
