After the publication of J.R.R. Tolkien's life work, the trilogy of Middle-earth, Sunday Times noticed:'The world is divided into those who have read'The Lord of the Rings' and those who are going to read it'. Today, as P. Jackson's epic picture'The Fellowship of the Ring rules on the big screens all over the planet, it would be more true to say that the world is divided into those who have already seen the film and those who are still standing in queues to buy the ticket. When comparing Tokien's masterpiece and its screen adaptation you do not have to be a fantasy freak to notice that the two works share most characteristic features but there are also points at which they differ considerably.
Speaking of similarities, it should be stressed how fortunate it is that Tolkien's grand story has not been trivialized and reduced to a fairy tale. Luckily, in Jackson's adaptation the majestic atmosphere of the trilogy is carefully preserved. The script has not been childishly oversimplified, the characters often speak in a dignified language of the warriors of old and, what is equally important, monumental, sublime music adds necessary gravity to the mission of saving the world from the greedy and merciless hands of the Dark Lord, Sauron the Great.
In addition, the immense fidelity of description brings the movie picture even closer to the unique atmosphere of Tolkien's masterpiece. If the Author himself could take a seat in the cinema and watch the idyllic landscape of the Shire, snow-clad peaks of the Misty Mountains and horrifying abysses of the Mines of Moria, he would undoubtedly smile warmly and puff his favorite pipe with unconcealed pleasure.
Nevertheless, there are also some aspects of Jackson's vision of Middle-earth that would certainly either sadden or even utterly displease Master Tolkien. To name but a few, he would definitely miss careless hopping and sin…