As usual, I'll start with my history with this franchise: In 2000, when I was in sixth grade, our teacher had us all read The Hobbit as it was adapted into a play in our literature textbook. Another teacher that year had copies of the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy in her personal collection, so, I tried it...and just couldn't get into it. The next school year, a teacher recommended that I read the actual Hobbit novel, so, I attempted to...and had the same problem. When the movie came out in 2001, me and some family members went to see it on Christmas Day...and I was quickly bored. Not only was the flick overly long--probably the longest one I'd ever seen, and definitely the longest I'd watched in a theater--but, we arrived at the theater quite early, so having to sit still that long just drove me crazy. I was used to sitcoms and quick Super Smash Bros. Melee matches; a three hour movie couldn't hold my interest.
Despite that history, thanks to DVD technology, I discovered that watching long films in more than one sitting helped me appreciate them better. For example, I had trouble sitting through Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban at the cinema, but watching it and the other flicks in the series on DVD over the course of two or more days was much more fun. So, since I had the Lord of the Rings flicks on my DVD rack, I figured: Why not give them a whirl? For the past couple weeks or so, I've been watching Fellowship in fifteen-minute increments; this time, my reaction has been completely the opposite. The flick that once nearly bored me to death has proved amazing, inspiring, and beautiful.
I would say that I can't wait to watch the sequels...but, before I do that, I'm going to try out the extended edition, so I can see the entire story. Plus, I'm going to give the original novels a try as well; I had them years ago, and enjoyed the first two...but never finished the trilogy, even though I meant to do so for quite a while.
If you're a fantasy fan, and haven't seen this...you need to!
Review by Jerry HowellBlockedParent2019-03-22T19:22:16Z
As usual, I'll start with my history with this franchise: In 2000, when I was in sixth grade, our teacher had us all read The Hobbit as it was adapted into a play in our literature textbook. Another teacher that year had copies of the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy in her personal collection, so, I tried it...and just couldn't get into it. The next school year, a teacher recommended that I read the actual Hobbit novel, so, I attempted to...and had the same problem. When the movie came out in 2001, me and some family members went to see it on Christmas Day...and I was quickly bored. Not only was the flick overly long--probably the longest one I'd ever seen, and definitely the longest I'd watched in a theater--but, we arrived at the theater quite early, so having to sit still that long just drove me crazy. I was used to sitcoms and quick Super Smash Bros. Melee matches; a three hour movie couldn't hold my interest.
Despite that history, thanks to DVD technology, I discovered that watching long films in more than one sitting helped me appreciate them better. For example, I had trouble sitting through Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban at the cinema, but watching it and the other flicks in the series on DVD over the course of two or more days was much more fun. So, since I had the Lord of the Rings flicks on my DVD rack, I figured: Why not give them a whirl? For the past couple weeks or so, I've been watching Fellowship in fifteen-minute increments; this time, my reaction has been completely the opposite. The flick that once nearly bored me to death has proved amazing, inspiring, and beautiful.
I would say that I can't wait to watch the sequels...but, before I do that, I'm going to try out the extended edition, so I can see the entire story. Plus, I'm going to give the original novels a try as well; I had them years ago, and enjoyed the first two...but never finished the trilogy, even though I meant to do so for quite a while.
If you're a fantasy fan, and haven't seen this...you need to!