The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring/Monster's Ball/Joe Somebody/Ali

Richard Roeper - Host: Tolkein's "Lord of the Rings" books have enchanted tens of millions of readers. But as a movie, "Fellowship of the Ring" gets bogged down and under the weight of ALL those mystical speeches and self-consciously quirky characters. You've got nine members of the Fellowship, dueling wizards, you've got an elf princess, played by Liv Tyler, an elf QUEEN, played by Cate Blanchett. Just too many characters for me to care about. On and on it goes, only to reach an abrupt NON-ending, straight out of a Saturday afternoon serial.

Roger Ebert - Host: So you're giving it thumbs down?

Richard Roeper - Host: I'm giving it thumbs down.

Roger Ebert - Host: ...Whoa. Uh, well, I liked it. Uh, I think that it indicates a return by Hollywood to kind of courage that led to great epics like "Lawrence of Arabia" and uh, the "Star Wars" trilogy. A really out there, kind of large scale, ambitious undertaking that IS too long, I agree with you...

Richard Roeper - Host: Okay.

Roger Ebert - Host: It's too long, except for the people that are gonna go see it. And they won't find it to be too long. Oddly enough...

Richard Roeper - Host: Well, y'know, Frodo the Hobbit ain't Lawrence of Arabia, first of all, okay?

Roger Ebert - Host: The people that have your objections to this film are not the kinds of people that will ever go to see it in the first place.

Richard Roeper - Host: The characters are getting tedious after awhile. They go on one adventure after another...

Roger Ebert - Host: This is "Lord of the Rings"! Y'know...

Richard Roeper - Host: And, I mean, this Frodo the Hobbit character, who's in this h- little eflin world, or whatever, and he goes from one place to another, and he's wide-eyed, and he's wide-eyed, and you'd think after the fifteenth beast or the fourteenth elf or the little sprite, that he...

Roger Ebert - Host: Okay.

Richard Roeper - Host: ...Wouldn't be so amazed by Middle Earth. It's obviously this magical land, and they're all going after this silly little ring that makes people go, "Ooh, evil."

Roger Ebert - Host: Okay, I would not be completely honest if I didn't say I can understand where you're coming from. On the other hand, if you're gonna start talking about "The Lord of the Rings" on the grounds that they're going after this "silly little ring"...

Richard Roeper - Host: Yeah?

Roger Ebert - Host: ...Then I think you're kind of missing the point of this whole book. The ring is what sets the entire plot in motion.

Richard Roeper - Host: So we can see all these wonderful, magical characters.

Roger Ebert - Host: That's right. I thought it was a visually powerful epic, and I enjoyed it. But I gotta say, my enjoyment was tempered by a little sadness that the innocence or the naivete of the original books has kind of been lost in the middle of a high-tech special effects adventure picture.

[...]

Roger Ebert - Host: So my thumb is up for "The Lord of the Rings". It's an impressive achievement, but I AM a little melancholy that the film is a violent action picture, and the books by Tolkein were from a kinder and gentler time. But Richard... at a time when Hollywood has such small visions, the purity, the ambition, the scope, the vastness of this film, those guards protecting the way down that river passage...

Richard Roeper - Host: I agree! All that is impressive!

Roger Ebert - Host: It's all well done.

Richard Roeper - Host: They spent a ton of money on this movie, and you can see the money on the screen.

Roger Ebert - Host: Yeah.

Richard Roeper - Host: It looks great. And the little people don't look like they're superimposed against the regular-sized people, and the giants look like giants and all that, but Roger, it goes ON and ON forever...

Roger Ebert - Host: Okay, well I'm gonna say...

Richard Roeper - Host: ...And I understand that movies, y'know, "Harry Potter" is part of a series, but it ENDS on a satisfactory note.

Roger Ebert - Host: Okay.

Richard Roeper - Host: THIS thing, it's like, after three hours, they kinda look at each other, and they ALMOST look at...

Roger Ebert - Host: Okay.

Richard Roeper - Host: ...The viewers and go, "See you next Christmas for another big commercial movie!"

Roger Ebert - Host: Well, that's because it IS, it's a TRILOGY! It IS a trilogy! So it doesn't END after the first book! That's what...

Richard Roeper - Host: It's gonna be a $27 trilogy for people. I think for nine bucks, you should get SOME kind of closure.

Roger Ebert - Host: Well, I do feel myself that "Harry Potter" is a better movie.

Richard Roeper - Host: Absolutely.

Roger Ebert - Host: Again, I do note that there are some people who are not true believers, who are gonna say what you said about "Lord of the Rings". But I believe in the quest.

Richard Roeper - Host: All right, fine.