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Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Before I begin my review of the Lord of the Rings movies, I have a brief caveat: these movies are, for me, a near-religious experience. At least, as close as I can actually get to religious experiences while not physically at a synagogue, so just bear with me. Anyway, the Lord of the Rings tale begins with Fellowship of the Ring, in which Frodo, a beautiful hobbit, played by the lovely and talented Elijah Wood, inherits a gold ring. Little does he know that the ring is The Ring, The One Ring that was forged by the Evil Sauron, and if it falls into the wrong hands, it could mean the destruction of the entire world. Clearly, Frodo does not want that to happen, so he sets off on a quest to destroy The Ring. Along the way, he is aided by various and sundry characters, including men, dwarves and elves, plus random wizards and hobbits. (It's really impossible to put this into a decent summary. The book on which the trilogy is based is quite long and complicated.) There are dozens of other stories including the imminent departure of the elves for parts unknown, the cooperation of Sauron the Big Flaming Eye and Saruman the White and the hidden heritage of Aragorn/Strider, especially his destiny to reclaim the throne of Gondor.

Everything about this movie is fantastic - the scenery, the acting, the effects, the story, the amazing Hotness of the bulk of the actors in it. It is a timeless tale of good versus evil, light versus dark, attractive versus not so attractive. There are acts of bravery and acts of evil possession. Amazing scenery and the omnipresent nausea-cam. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll want to go out and kick some orc ass. Start to finish, it's wonderful. My only problem is that it wasn't long enough.