a movie by Peter Jackson, after J.R.R.Tolkien’s works

by Jennifer & Paul (Nov 19, 2003)

Of course, all the fans of this trilogy know what's  happening on the 17th of December : the last episode, "The return of the King", arrives in the cinemas. "The lord of the rings" used vast means, financial as well as technical. 

It belongs to the movies with the biggest budgets ($1.8 billion for "The fellowship of the ring" and "The two towers"). The first two were really appreciated by people all over the world and by all ages. But let's refresh your memory:

• December 2002 : "The two towers" knew the same success as the first (it received 2 Key Art Awards at Hollywood).

• December 2003 : "The return of the king", which will be the outcome of the story, is impatiently expected by every fan...

But for all the unlucky persons who have never seen the trilogy, here's a little summary of the beginning in order to understand what it is about and the main atmosphere of the movie :

"The story takes place in an imaginary world of the Middle Earth, composed of different kingdoms. Each one has got rings symbolizing their power. They are "presents" from Sauron, king of darkness. But he deceives them by creating "one ring to rule them all", which he lost during the rebellion of these kingdoms against him. So it results in a fight in order to find the ring. At the beginning of the trilogy, the ring is owned by a hobbit, Bilbo, who gives it to his nephew, Frodo. 

To prevent the victory of darkness, Frodo decides to destroy the ring. But the only solution is to throw it into the flames of  the Destiny Mountain, in the Mordor, controlled by Sauron. Finally, this trilogy shows the partnership of kingdoms facing evil and greed brought by the possession of the ring. So it's about power in general."

Now, we have to wait for the 17th of December to know if this end is on equal terms to our hopes. 

So Frodo, Sam, Gollum, Aragorn, Legolas, Gandalf and all the others have an appointment with you next month...

If you wish to react to this article, write to the editor.

The Lord Of The Rings is officially the UK's Best-Loved Book :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/

The editor

Your web page is wonderful with a lot of posters but they haven't a good definition. You could write more about the story and on the first book, "Bilbot the hobbit". And if you could put an extract of the film or of the book.

Boubou (LAT, Blois)

Hello ! Jennifer and Paul. Your article is good but it doesn't speak enough about Tolkien's books and you don't speak about the other heros (Sam, Gollum, Aragorn, Legolas, Gandalf, Merry, ...). It's my opinion.
Your posters are wonderful.
Have you seen "The Return of the King"?
Good bye and Happy New Year !!!

Ludovic (LAT, Blois)

You have wonderful posters but you don't explain the story enough. You don't describe the characters at all. But it's a good beginning.

We've read your article about the trilogy of the Lord of the rings..... We like it ! It's a good work but we think you haven't talked enough about the books of J.R.R. Tolkien .
It could be also interesting to write about the actors, particularly about FRoDo and LEgOlaS !
But for people who don't know the films, it is a good article !
Why don't you write a little bit about the adventures of Bilbo the hobbit? That is also a nice story!

Géraldine and Konstanze (LAT, Blois)

I think that it's a good work from Peter Jackson. But if you had read the third book you would have seen the occupation of Sarouman of the Shire. I'm a little disappointed we don't see it in the film. I can understand that it was already too long for Mr Jackson, and that’s why I'm waiting for a very very long version of the film. I also want to tell you that your article is good. But I want to say another thing to the reader of my comment. It's about books...Read them! and you will learn much more about the story of the Middle-Earth and the Shire! Maybe you'll learn the number of Sam's children :)

Your article is very interesting. The posters are nice, and the "Return of the King" is the best film of the trilogy, even if the first two are fabulous.

I agree on the fact that this is the best movie EVER!!!!!

The only thing is that this is such a great and grand movie, but you don't really explain much besides the main plot. You should go into more detail about the different groups (the dwarves, elves, and man) . I don't know. It's just such a great movie, and the article seems extremely short. Just some ideas: You could point out how cute some of the characters are (if you think that) , and how the orks are extremely ugly and disgusting. You could also voice your opinion about whether or not you think that Arwen and Aragorn should be able to be together or if you think that Golum will turn around and take the ring. Small things like that.

Zoe Patterson (Corte Madera, California, USA)

(Jan 15, 2004) 

Here’s an article I wrote for my school newspaper :

Return of the King

Perhaps the most popular movies of the past three years have been The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It all began in 2001 with The Fellowship of the Ring followed by The Two Towers Christmas 2002; and finally, the long awaited Return of the King at the end of 2003. Each movie seemed to be just a little bit more intense, more gripping, more action packed. Critics and fans alike would agree that the third movie definitely reached the pinnacle of acting and cinematography. After three years, the actors and actresses did not just "play" their characters; they lived their characters. Return of the King allows the audience to watch the epic struggle between good and evil from many different levels: there is the classic battle of arms, the one person with the weight of the world on his shoulders, the characters torn by the inner pull to do the wrong thing because it is the easiest, the loyal friends standing by their comrades through the darkest days, the naively misplaced trust, the "all things work out for a purpose in the end" idea, and the one thing that everyone wants to happen—honor, valor, friendship, love, and most of all, goodness and righteousness, conquer all.

All who followed the trilogy were waiting to see the fate of the infamous ring. Would Frodo collapse under the pressure of the inner war he was fighting? Would Gollum lead the hero and his faithful companion to certain death in an effort to reclaim the ring? Would the Dark Lord discover the plot to vanquish him and diminish the already broken, but beloved fellowship? All of these questions were running through every viewer’s mind for just over three hours before the end literally erupted.

It took not only a phenomenal cast, but outstanding producers and directors to put on such a fantastic performance and bring the often inner struggle between good and evil out into the open on the big screen. J.R.R. Tolkein’s novels had to be dissected and analyzed and over all effectively interpreted to accomplish such a feat, and that is just what the crew did. To get the whole story, the lines of Book One, Book Two, and Book Three were meshed and melted into each other so any member of the audience could follow all of the characters and the plot without having the background information provided by the novels. Return of the King covered J.R.R. Tolkein’s story from the last third of The Two Towers all through the last book to the breathtaking conclusion.

All in all, the best was definitely saved for the last. The viewers left with the satisfaction of finally getting to see the conclusion of the trilogy. Return of the King was everything and more that anyone could have possibly expected and the people who have not seen it or the rest of the three movies are missing out. Return of the King brought honor and valor to new levels with speeches by great kings and rugged soldiers; tough, life changing choices made by characters at the low points in their lives who chose to look beyond their personal interests and needs; friendship ties that were the thin strings holding races, nations, and armies together and were only forged stronger as efforts by the enemy to break them proved futile. A truly good movie gets each and every viewer emotionally involved. During Return of the King, a mix of laughter, grief, fear, anger, and other emotions echoed throughout the theatre for the whole three and a half hours that the feature captured the attention of the audience.

I saw the first two and they were very good. I hope the third one is the same. And your article is very interesting. Well done.

Solenne (YGTP)

Dear Jennifer and Paul,

In Italy "The return of the king" is out today the 22/01/04 and I’m going to see it tomorrow. I’m very excited because I love the "Lord of the rings" and I hope that you enjoyed seeing this film. I saw the "Following of the ring" and the "Two towers" but, if you read the "Hobbit" you know that the rediscovery of the ring by Bilbo is not true because he discovers it in the cavern of the goblin. After that he was captured by the goblin with the dwarfs and Gandalf. I also like this mistake because the book, the film and Tolkien are very fantastic!

Lorenzo (British Council, Rome, Italy)  http://www.britishcouncil.it/students.htm

For us the Lord of the Rings is a good film. Now, in Italy the third film is out and most people go to watch it. In fact a large number of boys and girls but also adults like the fantasy of this trilogy. The film was shot in New Zealand , a very beautiful place, and to realise this film  much money was spent ( they spent about $2 billion for only the two films). The most famous character is Gollum, a mixture of fiction and reality.

Emilia and Elisa (British Council, Rome, Italy)  http://www.britishcouncil.it/students.htm

I think your work is good but I have never seen one volume of the three and I haven't enough information about it. I don't know the role of all the characters even if I know it a little because people speak about it all the time. I would prefer you to explain more in your summary because I don't know the story (exactly) in each part of the trilogy. Otherwise the presentation is banal. Put more colours and more things which attract the attention like the posters. Good bye and congratulations! ! !

I find the website very good. The quality of images is not very good, but the posters are beautiful. But it's a good summary of the film for people who have never seen it. I'm fond of the trilogy of the Lord of the rings. I like to see the action and the story is very good. It was a good idea to deal with this film. Congratulations.

Denys (Locmélar, 29, France)

The Lord of the Rings is the best film of last year because he has been renowned by the biggest producers. He has received 11 oscars. Its trilogy tells us the story of the nine communities of rings who fight and try to save the world from the bad lord of the rings. They try to save the world from the devil who wants to conquer the middle earth. There are a lot of heroes in the film like Aragon, Legolas, Frodon, Sam, Guimli, Gandalf.

Olivier (Landivisiau, Britanny, France)

The Lord of the Rings is really the best movie of the world !! And the best book of all times!! This is not a story just written to be read but to be felt, lived. I can't find words to explain what it represents to me. It's a whole world. A fantastic world that takes you off all realities and makes you live a fantasic but terrible adventure. The characters are so likeable in their own way. They've got their own personality. My favourite characters are Aragorn because he doubts like a real man but he is not as weak as one; and Sam. What can I say about Sam? He is courageous, faithful. He would give his life to Frodo. But he is also very wise, he knows the right words to restore the strength to carry on to Frodo.

But we don't talk enough about the music of the film, which is really beautiful, deep and full of emotion.

What a great thing to have made this movie with so much passion !

Elise (YGTP)

Sept 28, 2005

I think your article is a good beginning, but you have to describe the persons (Gandalf, Gimli, Thedon), because the persons make the film funny and interesting. And you can write something about Tolkien, and the differences between the films and the books. Good pictures!

Mathias (Balve, Germany)

Sept 28, 2005

I think your article is good, but it is not enough for the film, because the three films are too long.
The film is a masterpiece of Peter Jackson and the countryside of New Zealand is the right place to take. I think the best characters of the film are Legolas and Aragorn and Gollum and Gimli and Baumbard.

Johannes and Pascal (Balve/Neuenrade,Germany)