Although I never actually read the book, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, was an excellent way of portrayal on the big screen. After some months, we now have an extended version, with some deleted scenes, but much of it is new content which was filmed just for this. There is close to 30 minutes of new footage included in this boxed set, with many new extra featurettes and even some hidden content throughout the menus. Including a teaser for the next part, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Although the book was all one book, the movies are all split up into three movies. In The Fellowship, we see one Frodo Baggins, a hobbit (a "halfling") take upon himself a gift from his uncle, Bilbo Baggins. This gift is a golden ring, which Bilbo found 60 years before (read The Hobbit to learn about Bilbo's adventures). Little does Frodo (or Bilbo) know, that it is actually the key to enslaving all of Middle-Earth. The Ring belonged to the Dark Lord Sauron, who was supposedly slain in battle thousands of years before; however, the spirit of Sauron still lives in the Ring, and if his minions, The Ring Wraiths, find it, then he can be reincarnated and cover the lands in another darkness. Gandalf the Grey, a wizard, tells Frodo that he must deliver the Ring to the elven city of Rivendell, where a council will decide it's fate. Along with Frodo tags Samwise Gamgee, his gardener, his second cousin once removed, Peregrine Took, and his good friend, Meriadoc Brandybuck. During the journey to Rivendell, the group meets a ranger, named Strider, who will play one of the largest parts in the other 2 movies. Strider defends the 4 hobbits along the way to Rivendell, and the 5 go through many perils until reaching the elven city. Here is where The Fellowship is forged, 9 people to match the 9 Ring Wraiths. There is Frodo, Sam, Pippin, Merry, Gandalf, Strider (who is actually named Aragorn), Legolas of the elves, Boromir of Gondor, and Gimli the dwarf. The Fellowship undertakes a quest to deliver the Ring to the heart of Sauron's realm, Mordor, where it can be destroyed.

There were many very well done parts to this movie, and only one mistake. The mistake was that some parts were changed from the book in this movie, and while I personally did not mind, Tolkienists might cringe from this thought. The good parts involved the intense action sequences and very deep character development. All the battle sequences were very exciting and will definitely satisfy action fans. Then there is also the character development. You will actually feel sorry for what the characters end up going through and also sad, happy, and also humor during some parts. This excellent combination ends up being a triumph for the movie makers, and a mostly faithful recreation of the book. I would recommend this movie to everyone who is willing to make the 50$ purchase.

As if the movie wasn't already good enough, they put in terrific extras as well! These extras are good, in-depth behind-the-scenes footage of what happened during production, how things happened, and who did what. There are plenty or hilarious parts, and plenty of these are in "The Fellowship of the Cast" featurette. The extras are perfect, watch them please.

-Gamer