[Azaelia of Willowbottom]

Well! I missed this one the first time around, somehow.

So here I am, now.

Things Azaelia loves about the movies...

1. The acting. This has to be top for me. Yes, the script and the sets and the music were brilliant, but there's something special about the acting in the movies. The ensemble worked together perfectly, handled emotional scenes perfectly, and made me believe that I really was watching Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Gandalf, and the rest. It was, in short, inspiring, in more ways than one. I wanted to be able to do that, and it led to my choice to want to be an actress when I "grew up" back in '01. Now, I'm moving on. I've gotten into college and am going to persue a degree in acting. I owe this finding of my passion to the LOTR movies.

2. The music. Howard Shore's score is a masterpiece in itself. The soundtrack is, in turns, stirring, depressing, joyful, majestic, bright, carefree, dark, etc. It's layered music, and some of the most powerful I have ever heard. It's great to just listen to while reading the book. How it was done in the movies was perfect. It's a mark of a great score, I think, when you don't notice it there all the time. Music accents the dialogue and action, rather than trying to take it over. He knew how to use moments of silence, to just let the acting and script tell the story, rather than overpower the audience with blaring, heroic noise. It made the swells of music, when you really notice it, that much more powerful. His music to the lighting of the beacons is the main reason I cry while watching that sequence.

3. The script. Granted, it does have its flaws, but I think that over all, it is beautifully written. Lines from the actual text of Tolkien fit seamlessly with lines written just for the movie (with some exceptions that do fall flat). The scriptwriters knew when to pause and really make a scene last, but also when to just keep things moving along. The construction of TTT was especially well-done when you consider that they had no real beginning to go with, and no real end. They set the scene well, and wrapped things up perfectly. I understood why they made the changes from the books that they did, as things that look great on the page may not turn out so well on the silver screen. I think they also struck a good balance between providing something that first-timers who hadn't read the books would understand, and little hints to us book-readers that said "we know what we're doing, we love the books, too".

4. The settings. New Zealand was a perfect backdrop for LOTR. They somehow made everything look almost exactly as I'd imagined it while reading the books. Sets were intricate and the attention to detail was just amazing. The things they added that the camera never picked up... wow.

5. The sheer power of the LOTR movies is something I have very rarely experienced since. The movies bring the mood of the books to life. Movies frequently make me shed a tear or two, but so rarely induce out-and-out crying (I'm talking can't-see-the-screen-sobbing-pass-me-the-tissues-and-hit-the-pause-button-crying here). I know that emotion like that makes some people uncomfortable, but for me it's incredibly positive. It means that a connection has been made, that I get it, that I feel the movie in my blood, in my heart. It also means that they have touched me as deeply as the books do. So that's a job well done. And this alone is a testament to all of it--it means the perfect balance has been struck: the acting, the script, the scenery, the music...everything. It just sort of hits you all at once, you know?