Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Review

For the first time since going to film school, I am finally re-visiting the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Now, to be honest, there isn't anything I can say about these films that have not already been said. All I can say is my history with them. Growing up, I would always hear about the Lord of the Rings movies and how awesome they were, but I never saw them. I wasn't allowed. The Fellowship of the Ring came out the exact same year that the first Harry Potter film came out, 2001. I was only six years old and my mother believed that Lord of the Rings was a bit too violent and scary for six-year-old me, so we watched Harry Potter instead. From that moment on, my family would always be a Harry Potter family. Always going to the premieres of the films, quoting all the lines, humming the tunes, my mother, father, sister and I couldn't get enough. I mention this because our cousins went the complete opposite. Although my cousins were even younger than I was at the time, their father took them to see Lord of the Rings and they didn't see Harry Potter until many years later. I can't remember how old I was when I watched Lord of the Rings for the first time or even what my initial reaction was. When people ask me, "Which is better? Lord of the Rings or Star Wars?" I will always say Star Wars because I grew up with them. Same if people ask whether or not I like Harry Potter over Lord of the Rings. I will say Harry Potter based alone on the fact that those movies shaped who I am today. As for the actual movie itself, I really like it. I don't love it like some people do (although I do love the third one which we will get to later) but Lord of the Rings is the very definition of "epic filmmaking". I could only imagine how people reacted seeing these films on the big screen back in 2001. Nowadays, the effects do look a little dated (they remind me of the effects from the Philosopher's Stone to be honest) but still very impressive for the time. You don't normally get grand fantasy adventure movies like this anymore where a big group of people has to go on a quest through mountains with evil creatures and magic spells. In fact, these movies killed their own genre because nobody wants to be compared to it. Unlike superhero films today where everybody wants to try to imitate the Marvel formula, nobody wants to create the big fantasy adventure because then you'll get the classic response of, "What is this? This looks like a rip-off of Lord of the Rings." The shadow that Lord of the Rings has cast over Hollywood is still there and it's sad because I want to see more movies like this. A giant epic quest with dragons and dungeons and castles and orcs and elves and mystical creatures and stuff like that. You know when you are walking down a mall and you see that collectibles shop where people are buying and selling Dungeons and Dragons stuff and Magic the Gathering cards, although I'm more of a Sci-Fi nerd than a fantasy nerd, I still pop my head in just to take a look because I find that stuff interesting. There is a reason why people still talk about these movies and it's because they are the best fantasy, mystical adventure films ever made. Period. It's a shame we haven't gotten any like that in a while (don't even mention the Hobbit. I don't think I will ever watch those things again). If you haven't seen any of these movies, it may be a good idea to watch them with an expert to guide you along for your first time, but just know that you are in for a grand adventure!