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Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Ian Holm, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Bean ... see more see more... , Sean Astin , John Rhys-Davies , Billy Boyd , Cate Blanchett , Orlando Bloom , Liv Tyler , Hugo Weaving , Christopher Lee , Dominic Monaghan , Andy Serkis , Marton Csokas , Craig Parker , Lawrence Makoare , Brian Sergent , Sala Baker , Peter Corrigan

Assisted by a Fellowship of heroes, Frodo Baggins plunges into a perilous trek to take the mystical One Ring to Mount Doom so that it and its magical powers can be destroyed and never possessed by evi... read more read more...l Lord Sauron. The astonishing journey begins in the first film of director/co-writer Peter Jackson's epic trilogy that redefined fantasy filmmaking. This imaginative foray into J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth won 4 Academy Awards (R)* and earned 13 total nominations including Best Picture.

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PG-13, 2 hr. 45 min.

Directed by: Peter Jackson

Release Date: December 19, 2001

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DVD Release Date: August 6, 2002

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Flixster Reviews (79,521)

  • aquateen2
    April 11, 2013
    aquateen2
    [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/user/icons/icon14.gif[/img]
  • fb100001048934982
    January 8, 2013
    fb100001048934982
    A great start to one of the greatest film adventures of our time, 'The Fellowship of the Ring' sets a high standard for the rest of the saga. Taking great strides in character development and the story line, the first installment of the series proves to be well made, beautifully ... read moreshot, and filled with exhilarating action pieces.
  • allan913
    December 30, 2012
    allan913
    Truly one word to describe this film: Spectacular. A brilliant and extraordinary fantasy adventure loaded with great drama and even greater action sequences. Ian McKellen gives an outstanding performance. Ejijah Wood is wonderful. Sean Astin is terrific. Viggo Mortensen, Orlando ... read moreBloom, Sean Bean and Johnathan Rhys-Davies are magnificent. The cast is truly fantastic. A thrilling, funny and deeply moving movie experience that truly blows you away. A feast for the eyes and ears that truly captivates you from the first to very last shot. The special effects are as superb as the storytelling. A triumphant classic for all times.
  • fb733768972
    December 13, 2012
    fb733768972
    Though some of the visuals could never compare to the rest of the trilogy, the first instalment in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy is absolutely magnificent. From story to the extremely in-depth characters, this film is one that I will remember forever. This is not just a journey... read more, this is an exploration that will never be too long. There are so many little side plots throughout this film, and the running time may bother some viewers, but I believe them all to be worth it. This film leaves you at a nice point to continue in the series, but I never wanted it to end. The cinematography is fantastic and the direction is top notch. Peter Jackson can direct the hell out of movies. "The Fellowship of the Ring" is terrific on an entertainment level and on a filmmaking level.
  • phubbs1
    December 2, 2012
    phubbs1
    I grew up on a few big franchises through the 80's, 'Star Wars', 'Indy', 'Star Trek' and 'Lord of the Rings'. Of course LOTR was never much of a franchise as the only thing available to us (other than the actual book) was the Bakshi animated version, but I loved it. Grown out of ... read moreit slightly now admittedly but still...lets soldier on.

    I can't compare the animated film fairly to be honest but I must admit there was always elements of Bakshi's effort that worked so well. There are many elements of this Jackson effort I like also but as usual with so many modern films I do feel the over exaggerated hype simply forced people to adhere to the fact that this film is suppose to be 'epic'.

    The start of this film is perfect, everything we see in 'the Shire' is just as you would expect and it looks wonderful. Straight away you can see the immense detail that has been put into the film with the interior sets inside 'Bilbo's' little dwelling (look at the metal framing on the back of his front door). Clothing, decorations, equipment etc...everything within the Shire is warm, cozy and thoroughly inviting to the point that you just wanna up sticks and live there. I still think they took some ideas from 'Willow' hehe.

    We all knew what to expect with the look of the characters before hand but you still can't fail to be impressed with the quality of simple things like wigs and little items of clothing such as waistcoats. The plot trundles along nicely and like the 78 animated version its pretty similar in styles and visuals. The journey to 'Bree' and incidents within 'The Prancing Pony' all look great and have that perfect olde English atmosphere with much ale drinking amongst shady figures.

    I enjoyed pretty much everything up to the point where the heroes meet up with the Elves 'Galadriel' and 'Celeborn'. At this point I found myself getting bored, the sequences here were heavy going and pretty dull frankly. Not that I expected anything else but I just felt the plot and interest slip away from me. From this point I was disappointed with what I saw, the film seems to lose a lot of its genuine old world atmosphere, the orcs and especially 'Uruk-hai' looked pretty dreadful and the fight sequences become extremely repetitive.

    We know the heroes don't die so you know they will be slicing down the bad guys left right and centre but the fights looked pretty badly choregraphed to me with obvious fake fisticuffs going on. The orcs just keep on coming one after another whilst the main heroes merely glance at them with a sword or look at them and they go flying to the ground in screams of agony...hmmm.

    I never liked the designs for the orcs either really. They always looked like something from a bad 'Star Trek' episode with silly fake contacts, silly fake teeth and the odd scar across the face. They are a random bunch so the odd one looked OK but I must side with the Bakshi film for this. I always loved how the orcs were in the shadows, faces obscured by darkness only allowing their eerie red eyes to glow through. The 78 animated film was much darker in tone with violence and the orc hordes, Jackson's film never captured that spooky essence for me a tall with either.

    This leads me to the effects which a lot was done with CGI. Now this was to be expected of course, you can't really make a film about this fairytale without it. Back in the day CGI was blooming was used in everything but unfortunately it hadn't been fine tuned yet. The result for this film being somewhat sketchy to say the least. Upon release everyone barked on about how great the effects were, I never saw this, to me they were always pretty bad and naturally to this day now look even worse.

    You can't be negative about effects on old films but like I said even when I saw this at the cinema it looked dire to me. Where it worked was landscapes, skylines and armies, there are some glorious village/kingdom shots in this film, the odd building/ruin/relic also looked good but the problem came with over the top action set pieces and creatures.

    Alongside tonnes of hideously bad bluescreen effects some of the CGI is damn ropey to be honest. Sequences inside the 'Mines of Moria' are easily the worst in the film and look awful, the huge troll the team must fight and the 'Balrog' demon always looked fake. The orc pits surrounding 'Saruman's' castle were another badly realised concept, looking back they really do look like PS2 sequences.

    A lot of the action always did look like videogame sequences to me, much like the army battles at the start of the film and in the following sequels. The same issue that CGI had and still does really is the effects tend to look plastic and obvious.

    One of the films main assets if you ask me is the attention to detail on errr everything!. Jackson has tried to cover all aspects right down to the smallest detail which has to be applauded. The other main asset must be the real location shoots used for various parts of 'Middle Earth'. Far be it from me to say but at times the film felt more of a tourist advert for New Zealand than a film hehe yep that's me being cynical, but honestly the location work really did expand the Tolkien universe to new heights. Much like 'Star Wars' did with their locations.

    Cast wise, well I can't fault this really, every character is well cast and every actor does a good job, nuff said. Hell even the extras for the elves looked perfect just standing there saying nothing but looking so...elf-like.

    Something the Bakshi film lacked but this film had was a beautifully smooth ethereal spirituality to it. Jackson captures the mythical almost semi religious tones of the story (mainly through sequences involving the elves and their folklore) and really makes it feel historically believeable. All the while you are accompanied by gentle heavenly sounds and the type of music you expect from 'Clannad' or 'Tangerine Dream', it is in fact Enya on occasion.

    I still prefer the Bakshi version for certain aspects but I like this version for others. I don't think this film was quite dark or forboding enough in various sequences, huge missed chances with the 'Ringwraiths' methinks, and merely having screaming ugly drooling orcs isn't really enough to say its dark n scary. I also loved how the Bakshi film didn't cower away from showing lots of blood, something this film lacked.

    First half of the film I love but from the midway point I don't like, simple as that really. It seems to go from a beautiful fable to a daft videogame mashup, think 'Legend' at the start then 'Conan' from the midway point.

    I can't rant on about the semi reasonable effects or lack of the odd bits and pieces here and there lets be frank, the film is much more than that. Even though its not a perfect adaptation of the classic tale its pretty darn close and manages to encompass enough adventure and excitement with just the right amount of emotion to thrill. I do think it has been over hyped terribly which is a common problem these days but it is still a solid film, just not as epic as you're led to believe.

    No one should ignore the Bakshi animated film either I must say, a glorious piece of work that really does offer a damn good alternative to this film.
  • fb100002359227440
    September 10, 2012
    fb100002359227440
    The Fellowship of the Ring it's one of the few films, that are highly dependent of special effects that I loved since Star Wars: A New Hope.
  • fb100000293612769
    August 26, 2012
    fb100000293612769
    Beautiful imagery and music help bring to life this epic tale. Though it is long, the film never lags. It captivates and soars.
  • samoriley
    August 5, 2012
    samoriley
    While containing a strong story and great fight scenes, most viewers may not have the patience to deal with its fairly ridiculous length. This is probably my most favoured out of the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy, its the only one which I would strongly recommend.
  • edfilmreviews
    August 3, 2012
    edfilmreviews
    The start of an epic trilogy. Peter Jackson's vision of Tolkien's work is astounding and as true to the book as it can be. Everything about this film is perfect: acting, score, suspense, visual-effects, setting, and so on.
  • fb100000716838411
    March 6, 2012
    fb100000716838411
    It's ok. It's not bad, but it could have been a lot better.

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Critic Reviews

Jonathan Rosenbaum
March 5, 2008
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

It's full of scenic splendors with a fine sense of scale, but its narrative thrust seems relatively pro forma, and I was bored by the battle scenes. Full Review

January 26, 2006
Time Out

In unveiling the Holy Grail for action-fantasy aficionados, director and co-writer Peter Jackson has begun a series to rival Star Wars in the pantheon. Full Review

Peter Rainer
January 22, 2002
Peter Rainer, New York Magazine

Tolkien completists won't find any of this overkill, but for those uninitiates among us, less is more is still a dictum worth heeding. Full Review

Richard Roeper
December 27, 2001
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper

[I]t goes on forever. Full Review

Claudia Puig
December 21, 2001
Claudia Puig, USA Today

The production design is a marvel, and the special effects are dazzling. Full Review

Peter Travers
December 21, 2001
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

The real deal, a movie epic that pops your eyes out, piles on thrills and fun, and yet stays intimately attuned to character.

Susan Stark
December 21, 2001
Susan Stark, Detroit News

McKellen plays Gandalf and, truth be told, his performance is worth more to the success of the film than all the effects, visual and aural, combined.

Joel Siegel
December 21, 2001
Joel Siegel, ABCNEWS.COM

Maybe by his second year in Hogwarts, Harry Potter will learn the trick to making a movie this good but don't bet on it. It's one of the best films of the year.

Desson Thomson
December 21, 2001
Desson Thomson, Washington Post

You can get gloriously lost in this.

David Edelstein
December 20, 2001
David Edelstein, Slate

I left exhausted, happy, intoxicated. Full Review

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Facts

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    • Frodo Baggins: Mordor! I hope the others find a safer road.
    • Samwise 'Sam' Gamgee: Strider'll look after them.
    • Frodo Baggins: I don't suppose we'll ever see them again.
    • Samwise 'Sam' Gamgee: We may yet, Mr. Frodo. We may.
    • Frodo Baggins: Sam? I'm glad you're with me.
    • Bilbo Baggins: No, thank you! We don't want any more visitors, well-wishers, or distant relations!
    • Gandalf: And what about very old friends?
    • Bilbo Baggins: Gandalf?
    • Gandalf: Bilbo Baggins.
    • Bilbo Baggins: My dear Gandalf!
    • Gandalf: Good to see you, 111 years old! Who would believe it? You haven't aged a day.
    • Frodo Baggins: I think we should get off the road. Get off the road! Quick!
    • Gimli: Not the beard!
    • Legolas: Lembas! Elvish waybread. One small bite is enough to fill a stomach of a grown man.
    • Meriadoc 'Merry' Brandybuck: Merry: How many did you eat?
    • Pippin: Four.
    • Boromir: It is a gift. A gift to the foes of Mordor. Why not use this Ring? Long has my father, the steward of Gondor kept the forces of Mordor at bay. By the blood of our people are your lands kept safe. Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy, let us use it against him!
    • Aragorn: You cannot wield it! None of us can! The One Ring answers to Sauron alone. It has no other master.
    • Boromir: And what would a Ranger know of this matter?
    • Legolas: This is no mere Ranger. He is Aragorn, son of Arathorn. You owe him your allegiance.
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The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Trivia

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellow... Trivia

  • Out of the three Lord of the Rings movies, which one can you see a vehicle accidently driving around in the background?  Answer »
  • Which Lord of the Rings movie does the following quote come from and which character said it? "I would rather share one lifetime with you than face all the ages of this world alone"  Answer »
  • what lord of the rings movie did borimir die in?  Answer »
  • "It began with the forging of the Great Rings" Wich movie is it?  Answer »
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