Lord of the Rings

[PrincessJoy]

Every film in this awesom trilogy was excellent. The plots, characters and actors that played them, the music, and everything else about them were so awesome. I liked hearing the swords clash in battle, as well as the sound of the horses running. Gandalf, Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, King Elrond, Arwen and Galadriel are some of my favorite characters.

[SunSpire]

I agree, one of the best book to movie conversions I have ever seen. I must have watched the extended editions a dozen times by now. That's 12 hours for all 3 of them, lol.

The book is really awesome too, was reading it while living at the campsite 4 years ago.

"SunSpire"

[Cypher]

I'm a huge fan of these films. Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed in Return of the King. Sorry guys. I understand artistic liberties in order to translate the books into movies, and I certainly wasn't complaining about those Aragorn/Arwen scenes in Two Towers (loved those because I'm a sap ), but the third one took it too far: Way too much focus on Gollum when we've already psychoanalyzed him to bits in Two Towers (that was good, but did we really need all those dramatic monologues rehashed in film 3, or that prologue about Smeagol and Deagol?); too many unnecessary additions that just wasted time--like Sam being framed by Gollum for eating the lembas bread and Frodo telling him to leave; and critical scenes in the book that were altogether left out. The Voice of Saruman was perhaps one of the most seminal moments in the Two Towers book. I knew they ran out of time in movie 2, so I expected to see it in film 3. And sure, it's in the extended addition, but come on! Saruman was the leader of the wizards and all of a sudden we're expected to believe that he has "no power anymore" because the Ents trashed his home? In the book it was a dramatic showdown in which Gandalf had to prove to his followers that he was now the White Wizard. I suppose I shouldn't even mention the Scouring of the Shire. Maybe they felt like it would be too many conflicts and they didn't even stick it in the extended addition, but really, that's just life. The books are more realistic for that. Sauron may be dead, but is evil ever truly gone from the world? That's what the Scouring of the Shire represented. It was a message to the hobbits about the dangers of seclusion and pretending that the world's troubles don't exist. If you don't fight back, evil will spread and find you no matter where you're hiding. I was really sad that they left that crucial moment out of the movies.

Finally...Annie Lennox. She's not too bad for what she does, but honestly, she did not fit Lord of the Rings at all. After the beautiful "May it Be" by Enya and Emiliana Torrini's Gollum's Song, how could they recruit Annie Lennox for the grand finale? Nothing about her singing evokes middle earth for me or the bittersweet ending in which the last of the elves leave for Valinor.