What did PJ do Perfectly?

[vison]

This is a topic on another forum I go to.

I know we've been over and over the movies maybe a million times, but this particular question was meant to draw out brief answers.

My list:

Ian McKellan as Gandalf.

The Shire, especially the Party Tree and Bag End.

The Black Riders and their mounts.

The Balrog. The absolute BEST SFX, ever.

Edoras and the plains of Rohan.

Shadowfax.

The lighting of the beacons.

Costumes, armour, weapons, all perfect.

[narya]

I'm so glad he picked Howard Shore and not John Williams!

[vison]

I'm so glad he picked Howard Shore and not John Williams!

Yes!

[Frelga]

On vison's list, I agree with Edoras, but disagree with plains of Rohan. They are no plains!

And the lighting of the beacons is a whole 'nother topic.

Adding to the rest of vison's list.

• Music!
• Sean Bean as Boromir
• First time we see Strider at Bree
• Ride of the Rohirrim (up to the mumakil)
• Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
• Christopher Lee as Saruman

[River]

The Plains of Rohan didn't bother me in the slightest. Reminded me of eastern Wyoming or Montana and the Dakotas.

Minas Tirith was also well done. In truth, all the set designs were bang on, but that's what happens when you have Tolkien's intricate descriptions and Alan Lee on hand to help you.

Except the skull avalanche on the Paths of the Dead. PJ lost control of himself there.

Shelob. She was as terrifying as she was when I first encountered her.

I can't believe no one's mentioned Gollum.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I moved this to the Tolkien Movies forum, for obvious reasons. But I left a shadow.

I'll comment on my own thoughts later.

[Pearly Di]

- Ngila Dickson's costumes.

- Arwen mourning by Aragorn’s tomb. A scene which brought tears to my eyes because I found it so true to the book.

[sauronsfinger]

The Ents attacking Isengard was breathtaking.
The entire Moria sequence is among my favorites.
Arwen seeing Eldarion in the woods as she leaves.
Grond in all his glory.
The charge of the Rohirrim - twice.
The look and design of the orcs.
The architecture of nearly everything from the Shire to the Grey Havens.
All the loving attention to detail.
Viggo as Aragorn and Ian as Gandalf.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

The look in Aragorn's face as he turned to meet the Uruk Hai after sending Frodo away and resisting the temptation of the ring.

The slow rhythm of the flapping of the Fell Beast's wings as the Nazgûl confronts Frodo over Osgiliath. For all of the illogic and faithlessness to the book of that scene, it was still perfect.

Frodo turning to Sam and saying "Frodo wouldn't have gotten very far without Sam" in that wonderfully gentle voice.

Aragorn turning and saying "For Frodo" before hopelessly charging the overwhelming black forces.

Frodo claiming the Ring. Amazingly well done and believable.

The eagles rescuing Frodo and Sam.

The eagles rescuing Frodo and Sam.

Frodo's beautific, enigmatic little half-smile as he sailed away from the Grey Havens.

[Pearly Di]

- The forging of Anduril. (Wrong timing, but ... yeah.)

- The muster of Rohan. All those riders on their horses, streaming across the fields ...

- Frodo's vision of Galadriel, giving him spiritual succour and strength, on the stairs of Cirith Ungol. That is just so beautiful.

- "Well, I'm back."

[narya]

The slow rhythm of the flapping of the Fell Beast's wings as the Nazgûl confronts Frodo over Osgiliath. For all of the illogic and faithlessness to the book of that scene, it was still perfect.

I love that scene.

[Maria]

I have to disagree about the casting of Shadowfax. If they'd stayed with the first horse shown, it would have been perfect, but showing a different horse playing Shadowfax later on was just jarring.

As far as things I love go, Gandalf's falling fight with the Balrog raises the hairs on the back of my neck every time.

I love most of the visuals of the movies. Someday I think I'd really like to see a version where all the speech is in a foreign language I can't understand, and the subtitles are in English, and the words have been changed to where the right characters are saying the right things!

[Pearly Di]

I have to disagree about the casting of Shadowfax. If they'd stayed with the first horse shown, it would have been perfect, but showing a different horse playing Shadowfax later on was just jarring.

See, I never even knew that.

And I doubt I'd have noticed it on screen. Well, I didn't.

It may be something a hardcore fan -- which is what we are, of course -- would notice but I guarantee that Joe and Jane Public didn't.

[Primula Baggins]

McKellan as Gandalf, certainly. Ian Holm's Bilbo was note perfect, too. I liked almost all the other actors very much, but with them there was not that instant recognition.

The library at Rivendell—every time I see the scene between Elrond and Gandalf I pick up new details of the beautiful copying desks, etc. I suppose this is shorthand for all the beautiful details of the sets (and costumes, and props). How I hope it becomes possible for a museum to be opened to display them someday, and that I can visit it.

The massing of the Rohirrim at the crest of the hill above the Pelennor.

The beacons. No, not logical, but intensely beautiful.

Meduseld (and its setting).

I know there's more, but I've got to move on.

[Teremia]

-- picking Howard Shore!!!!!

-- the death of Boromir

-- Gandalf riding up the winding road of the Great City

-- almost every shot of real mountains! (thank you, New Zealand)

-- epic flashbacks

-- Galadriel doing the voice-over at the very beginning of FOTR

-- and although it's terribly cheesy and really amazingly Impuristical in every way, I love the vision where Arwen glimpses her son

-- oh, yes, and I like the Eagles, too

-- and let me vote again for the music. As good as the actors are, I'd enjoy the whole film as a dialogue-less music video, too. After all, I know the story pretty well already!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

The dialogue between Aragorn and Galadriel. Pretty much the only dialogue that the filmmakers invented that was up to the level of Tolkien's.

[Padme]

I'd like to add to that, imho, the scene where Galadriel 'talks' to each person in their minds. The EE is much better.

Other than that I agree with what everyone has posted.

I love the movies and think they are wonderful.

I love the books because in my minds eye I can see so much more and imagine people the way I want them to look. Some of which is matched in the movie, some of which is not. However, I can wrap my mind around the movies just as easily. It comes from years of day dreaming I think.

[vison]

I had forgotten to mention the opening scene of the first movie, with Galadriel speaking. Instantly there were tears in my eyes, I was at once moved, delighted, excited - I knew I was in for the most wonderful movie experience of my life.

All in all, it was.

[WampusCat]

Everything that has been said. Plus:

Sean Astin as Sam. All the hobbits, for that matter.

Pippin's song during Faramir's charge.

Gollum's appearance, though not always his voice.

The overall sense that Middle-earth is a real place that I could inhabit (which the books also did so well).

The ruined grandeur of Moria.

[solicitr]

I have to disagree about the casting of Shadowfax. If they'd stayed with the first horse shown, it would have been perfect, but showing a different horse playing Shadowfax later on was just jarring.

If human actors can have stunt doubles, why can't horses?