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The movie is a long one.... A 3 hour introduction to the story of middle earth, and how races of creatures interact and get along.  Humans, Hobbits, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Goblins... One ring shall rule them all.  There are many themes that arise in the series:  Tolkien's epic thinly veils religious topics such as The battle between good and evil, the meek shall inherit the earth... etc.

If you've followed the books, the story will yield little surprises.  If you haven't, you are in for a treat.  Director Peter  Jackson has done a fine job (better than I thought he would!) at this cinematic translation.  Beautiful sights, scary sounds, awesome special effects, wonderful creatures... all are present in this first portion of the Ring Trilogy.  A movie will be released each Christmas, since they have already completed the filming of most of it.

Things to check out: Watch Sauron seriously kick some human booty in the beginning of the movie... Never seen anything like that before!  Also, look for the fight in the dwarf tomb with the gigantic goblin thang!  I spent most of the movie wondering what was real, and what was computer enhanced.  You'll see what I mean as full sized men stand seamlessly next to little 3 foot hobbits.  How'd they do that?  One other thing - Sean Astin (Rudy, Goonies, Toy Soldiers) looks like he gained about 40 pounds for this movie (Hobbits are short and stout).  Was that a special effect or was it real?

Things that bugged me:
1) Well, my buddy and I both noticed this... Why is it that these tremendous "bred to fight" orcs can get bowled over by one little elven arrow (from about 900 feet away no doubt)?
2) And why is it that the good guys can absorb about 5 "tree trunk sized" arrows and STILL keep fighting? The answer - "elven magic?".
3) Another thing that would have irritated me had I not read the book was the language.  The names, places and terms were difficult to grasp, and I ask anyone who hasn't read the book to name 2 other characters other than Gandalf, Sam, and Frodo.  Can't do it?  Thought so.
4) Also, there were these ladies sitting in back of me during the show (went to the Ward Entertainment Complex) who kept talking and talking and talking to the Movie screen. "Watch this!" or "Oooohh, that hurt", and so forth and so forth.  And they weren't whispering those statements either!  Then, these ladies of low class put their feet up on the chair right next to my head.  At least they added realism to the movie for me during the orc scenes, as I got a whiff of their stanky big luau feet.  No class, and a big negative to the theater for not telling them to put their feet down and to shut up.
5) The movie was 3 hours long... Up to 2 hours 45 minutes I was really enjoying myself, but during the home stretch it was becoming "Bored of the Rings".  The ending also irked me as it did most of the audience , and you'll see what I mean when you go see this movie.

411 Conclusion: Sounds like I'm whining a lot about this show.  Peter Jackson did a job that no one could have pulled off better.  What about that long "things that bugged me" section?  None of those items are the fault of Jackson.  He's created a fantasy world here that we haven't ever seen before.  An epic movie, I'm sure that this trilogy will become a multi million dollar classic.  Read the books when you get a chance, for nothing will ever surpass or replace those novels.  The movie is true and faithful to Tolkiens vision, and I highly recommend The Fellowship of the Ring to Hawaii audiences.  You won't be disappointed.