Mania Grade: A+
Disc Grade: A
Reviewed Format: DVD
Rated: PG-13
Stars: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Liv Tyler, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Sean Bean, Ian Holm, Hugo Weaving, Andy Serkis
Writers: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien
Director: Peter Jackson
Distributor: New Line Home Entertainment
Original Year of Release: 2001
Retail Price: $29.95
Extras: two-disc set; anamorphic widescreen; EX 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround; 2.0 Dolby Digital; documentary featurettes; music video; filmographies; trailers; TV spots; previews; DVD-ROM features; English subtitles

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THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING

Contrary to what some may think, this is not the most anticipated DVD release of the century. That'll be the package that includes deluxe editions of all three films, which will certainly be available by 2005. It's doubtful anyone would come out and say that the movie is better than the book, but there are just some things that movies can do and books can't. Peter Jackson's colossal screen adaptation of the first third of J.R.R. Tolkien's massive follow-up to THE HOBBIT makes it feel like only yesterday that I read it, instead of thirty years ago. Many things in the film are just as I imagined them, but more are even better.

The secret of Tolkien's success is that his story is both simple and complex. A young hobbit named Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) inherits a magic ring from his uncle Bilbo (Ian Holm). The family's wizard friend Gandalf (Ian McKellen) determines that this is not just any magic ring, but an incredibly evil and powerful one forged by the sorcerer Sauron (Sala Baker) thousands of years ago. Sauron used it to nearly conquer the world before losing it. Now, Sauron's forces are mounting again, having seduced head wizard Saruman (Christopher Lee) over to the Dark Side, and his demonic warriors are searching for his ring. Frodo seems to be one of the few with the moral stamina to resist the ring's dark influence, and a fellowship of nine warriors is formed to take him to the fiery pits of Mount Doom - the only place where the ring can be destroyed. The catch is: Mount Doom is located right in the middle of Sauron's kingdom of Mordor.

A surprising number of people in theaters were disappointed by the unresolved ending, which finds various characters vowing to continue in the next exciting chapter. Somehow they missed all the hype about the film being the first third of a trilogy. Despite the author's protests, Tolkien's publisher split the novel into three books, and so it has remained ever since. Hopefully that won't be such a problem with the home video release, but New Line could have re-titled it PART ONE OF THREE and some folks still wouldn't get the message.

Peter Jackson's genius truly flowers with this film, his first adaptation of a novel. Here, he shows us how well he understands the strengths and weaknesses of the two mediums. Left out of the film is much of Tolkien's meticulous depth of detail in creating his imaginary world, from transcribing the lengthy poetry of the elves to telling us what the hobbits ate for "second breakfast." However, he more than makes up for it by keeping the story intact and concentrating on the sound and vision of film language, leaving it up to the marvelous production design to fill in the details of Middle-earth.

Backing him up is a great cast, and the acting is uniformly excellent throughout. Many of the characters are much more rounded out on film than they ever were in print, particularly Lee's Saruman and Viggo Mortensen as the exiled king Aragorn. Cate Blanchett, as the elf queen Galadriel, expertly balances elements of sacrament and horror, and Sean Bean takes the stock character Boromir and makes him live. The cast, with Jackson, makes Gandalf, Aragorn, and the elf warrior Legolas (Orlando Bloom) into thrilling superheroes, and the band of hobbits become the heart of the story. On film, the action scenes come to life with exciting choreography and special effects.

We live in an age in which computers have made great special effects much more commonplace, but here, the intelligence and creativity shown in the use of those f/x stands out. Subtly, CGI and stagecraft are used to make the hobbit actors three feet tall, and the elf characters thinner and more ethereal - see Sean Astin as Sam Gamgee, shrunk to a stature we haven't seen him at since The Goonies. More spectacularly, a horde of monsters is brought into the battle. Pretty much every shot in the film has been manipulated digitally, but while you're watching it you can simply accept its every wonder as real.

Jackson has given us something great and rare - a faithful and worthy adaptation of one of the world's most beloved works of literature. He makes its 178-minute running time feel like 60, retaining the book's warm humor and sense of wonder, while bringing it a fresh depth of emotion and thrilling action. The only thing lacking is a better sense of place - Jackson should include more views of Tolkien's Middle Earth maps in the sequels.

The film itself takes up all of disc one, a razor sharp transfer by Laser Pacific rendering color beyond what you saw on your neighborhood theater screen. The surround mix gives you thundering sound effects and full range of music without drowning the dialogue. The package design is nicely restrained, not going in for any fancy gimmicks, but the second disc resides in one of those swinging center 'pages' that makes me nervous for some reason, like it might somehow catapult the disc across the room.

The DVD extras have all been segregated onto disc two. "Welcome to Middle Earth," a 17-minute commercial for Houghton-Mifflin's line of Tolkien books, presents a pleasant background piece on the original publication and history of the book, then launches into a section on the filming, which hawks their making-of book. "Quest for the Ring: FOX TV Special" is just the 21-minute puff piece you'd expect. It tells us Tolkien was a professor at "England's Oxford University," just so you don't go looking for it in Puerto Rico. Despite the dull editorial view, the interview subjects are still interesting to listen to. A bit more fan-savvy is the 41-minute "A Passage to Middle-earth: SCI-FI Channel Special," which focuses more on how Tolkien's world was recreated for the films. Another section collects 15 short featurettes that debuted online throughout 2001 at lordoftherings.net.

New Line hasn't shot the whole wad on this DVD release however a four-disc "Special Extended DVD Edition" release is planned for November, plus a "Collectors' Edition Gift Set," and they've included a preview of these to prepare viewers' wallets for another assault. Unlike other "director's cuts" that only include a few extra scenes, this version will have a full 30 minutes of cut footage, fully scored by composer Howard Shore. Wisely, they've included in this edition a rebate coupon for those that upgrade later. No doubt it will be followed by a "Never Leave the House Edition" that includes every frame shot for the film. One of the most loudly promoted extras is an 11-minute look at what's to come in THE TWO TOWERS, the perfect thing for those that always need to peek at their presents before Christmas. Three trailers, six TV spots, a clip-heavy music video by Enya, a promo for the Electronic Arts TWO TOWERS video game, and some DVD-ROM stuff round out the set.

Buyers beware: there's also a FULL SCREEN version available, though many chain stores are likely to put price stickers over the "FULL," so look sharp. Those that want this version (why?) shouldn't bother to pay the FULL price, since it's the only version Blockbuster Video stocks, and they'll have thousands of them to sell off within a month or so.