'Lord' runs rings around nonreaders

Movie: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Rating: PG-13 for extreme violence

Summary: Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm) is a 111-year-old hobbit (a small, humanlike peaceful creature who lives in Middle-earth) who has in his possession a gold ring that holds mysterious powers. When he leaves for a long-needed vacation, he hands the ring down to his cousin and adopted heir, Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood). Gandalf (Ian McKellen), the all-powerful wizard, knows of the immense power of the nine rings created for the lords of the land, but this ring in particular was extremely dangerous. It was that of Dark Lord Sauron. Frodo must take a treacherous journey to the evil lair to destroy the ring and end the reign of the Dark Lord. He is accompanied by the Fellowship of the Ring, an assortment of creatures of Middle-earth, who assist him on his quest.

My view: This film was extremely confusing! I would have been much better off if I first read the book by J.R.R. Tolkien. It was hard to process all of the different character names (partly because they were so odd) and put those names with the faces. The plot was difficult to comprehend, and I didn't like the way it branched off into so many different miniplots. That just confused me, and everybody I was with, even further. Of the four people I attended the movie with, the one who enjoyed and understood this film the most was the one who had read the book. The whole atmosphere of this film was very strange; probably because the whole concept was so far off. If I would have realized how complicated this film actually was, I definitely would have read the novel first! (I'm not a real fan of fantasy stories, though, so the movie hasn't motivated me to read it now.)

Favorite part: The vivid special effects incorporated into the numerous fight scenes impressed me and definitely entertained me. The acting in this flick was also very good, which surprised me since each actor had a very difficult and unique role to play.

Least favorite part: The dialogue-heavy parts of the movie bored me. If some of those parts were cut out to shorten the movie a bit, I would have enjoyed it more.

Recommendations: Reading the book before viewing this film will greatly enhance the experience. Even though at the beginning of the movie a narrator tries to explain all that is happening, you will be somewhat dumbfounded without the knowledge acquired from reading the book.

Grade: B-

- Billy Norris, 14, is in the eighth grade at Seminole Middle School and is a former member of the Times X-Team.

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