Question:
My vote goes to the Fellowship. I think the quality of effects and music score improved with each movie, but the Fellowship is the most enjoyable for to watch for me.

I believe it has the best story telling to action ratio. While the Extended Cut added alot more character and situation development to TTT (and hopefull RotK {November cant come soon enough}), I think the theatrical cuts of TTT and RotK had too much action and not enough story telling.

Secondly, the Fellowship of the Ring has the best feel about it. TTT has a very grim feel about it, the story taking place after the Fellowship has sundered. Characters are depressed and Helms Deep looms large. RotK seems to lighten up a tad on the grimness and its hard to get all emotional at the end of the film. But the Fellowship has a light feel about it. The Prologue sets Middle Earth up as a wonder and rich history and the scenes in the shire all have a light, joking feel about them. Being told through the eyes of Frodo, everything is being seen for the first time and is wonderous. The Fellowship is strong and you feel that anything is possible as long as the friends stick together. Even after the depressing events in Moria and at Parth Galen, Sam and Frodo's friendship is touching and you are left on a real high at the end of the film.

Thirdly, I think the FotR is paced the best out of all of them. Its fast moving, but despite all the events you become very close to the characters. All the action is very personal with the characters because it is the Fellowship that is directly under threat rather than the grand battles of the other two (though a good job was done at creating this feel in the big battles).


Anyway, that said, I love each of the films in the trilogy. They blow my mind everytime I watch them.

Choices:
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Two Towers
The Return of the King

 

The Fellowship and The Two Towers were great, but I like RotK much more. Part of it is likely the unpleasant viewing experience I had while watching TTT. I really enjoyed the movies, though.

Fellowship by far.

K-Dog

I already posted my thoughts on the "once in a generation" thread. If you care, check it out.

I would say it's a toss up between ROTK and Fellowship. They both have flaws in the theatrical releases. ROTK runs on too much at the end and some of the small things in Fellowship bug me, like in the prelude where you don't see Isildur put on the Ring and get shot. My girlfriend who hadn't read the books, was very confused during that scene "what do you mean the ring betrayed him?" she asked. Overall I think the films are enjoyable in the same way the books are. Two Towers is a little boring, Fellowship is the most endearing and Return the most inspiring. I never watch the theatrical release for Fellowship anymore, and I didn't bother buying the other two. It's Extended Editions only for me now!

I really had to go with 'Two Towers' on this one. It had a great balance and sense of itself. It would have been 'Return of the King', but I thought that parts were rushed, and not given as much attention as they should've gotten. Of course, had they done this, they would've made an already insanely long movie much, much longer.

In my opinion the ROTK (The Return of the King) was the best of them all. The Fellowship of the Ring was my second fav. They were all very good though.
There really is no reason to watch the theatrical versions if you can watch the externded versions though.

Because I'm not a purist (note, mark f) I'm convinced there is a terrific 218 mins. movie in the Lord of the Rings material.

Is there any reason why Lord of the Rings need to be longer than the extended Dune, the director's cut of Last Emperor, or 1900?

I think not.

Imagine what a terrific career George Lucas could've had if he had been content with the first Star Wars, and then went on to other projects instead of being a clinical case for arrested artistic development - proof if you need proof that sometimes early success could kill you.

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