By Guy Wheatley
The Texarkana Gazette

Hobbits are the only thing small about Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema's "The Lord of the Rings."
The epic scale of J.R.R. Tolkien's Ring trilogy demands a level of dedication few other projects require.
Tolkien has already established the emotional scale of the story. Jackson's challenge was to match the vision with imagery.
He has succeeded with the first movie in the trilogy.
Production designer Grant Major creates Middle Earth with a seamless blending of visual technology.
Even with groundbreaking computer graphics available, Major did not shy away from building full-scale sets.
The town of Hobbiton was an actual open-air village.
The crops and plants gracing the countryside were planted up to a year in advance so that the set would have a natural look of age to it.
Other breathtaking scenes were shot on location in New Zealand including the snow-covered ranges of The Remarkables.
Actors in makeup and animatronics join the computer-generated creatures that inhabit Jackson's Middle Earth in a stunning zoological fantasy. The overall effect gives these fantastic creations a casual reality that avoids distracting the audience from the action.
The cinematography and special effects are so powerful that there is a real risk of losing the cast in the glare. It requires an exceptional effort by the actors to pull the audience back to the human element of the film.
Elijah Wood leads an amazing ensemble that proves equal to the task.
The real magic of Tolkien is that in the midst of this fantastic world of sweeping landscapes and monsters, the focus is on the human struggle between good and evil.
There is incredible power in the smallest among the good standing fast against the greatest of the evil.
Wood, as Frodo, shows us the fear and doubt of this small creature asked to take on an impossible responsibility. His performance keeps the plot from becoming nothing more than a trite cliche about good guys in white hats.
Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd reinforce the intrinsic virtue of the Hobbits with their portrayal of devotion and friendship.
Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Liv Tyler and Cate Blanchett embody the elegant nobility of the elves. The elves are magical and ageless but have a melancholy element that draws us to them.
Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee represent good and evil respectively in the form of wizards on opposite sides of the great divide.
McKellen's Gandalf still lives in the world of light. Lee's Saruman has fallen and lives in a hellish tower gathering an army of orcs. The struggle between them has a celestial quality. We know that despite the power of these opponents, the final result lies in much smaller hands. This clash of titans is merely a backdrop for Frodo the ring bearerís journey.
Tolkien fans will find the film faithful to the books.
Those who have never read any of the "Ring" novels will still enjoy the movie. As with the book, this is storytelling at its best. Jackson keeps the feel as well as the literal plot on course.
The only down side is that the movie stops at the same place the book does. Book readers could decide when to pick up the next part. Movie goers don't have that luxury. The "end" is still two movies, and two years, away.
Houghton Mifflin first published "The Hobbit" in the United States in 1938.
"The Lord of the Rings" followed it 16 years later, in 1954.
The first paperback editions were authorized in the mid-1960s and took college campuses by storm.
HarperCollins, the UK Publisher of both works, estimates the lifetime global sales for "The Hobbit" to be in excess of 40 million copies.
"The Lord of the Rings" exceeds 50 million. The legend and following of Middle Earth has exploded, and Tolkien has clearly become a cultural icon.
Related works such as the 12-volume "The History of Middle Earth," "The Silmarillion," "The Atlas of Middle Earth" and others have given a historical feel to Tolkien's creation.
Scholarly works have examined the correlation between real history and culture and Tolkien's fictional world, giving it an academic credibility found in few fictional works.

Rated PG-13

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