I read the first “official” review today from The Hollywood Reporter - an movie studio industry publication that generally only reviews films in terms of potential box office profit.
They seemed to like the film A LOT.
Warning: They do spoil some of it, so beware if you want to take a look!
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/reviews/review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=2047029
OK, so the review said that Peter Jackson makes a sharp departure from Tolkien when Frodo finally reaches Mount Doom.
I haven’t heard this before, does anyone have any more information?
Box Office Mojo has a detailed list of reviews.
This thread has a good deal of them.
Mostly very positive, with nitpicks, especially the ending, which takes over 20 minutes to wrap up several different story lines.
Spoilers about the end DO NOT READ FURTHER UNLESS YOU’VE READ THE BOOK OR DON’T CARE TO BE SPOILED:
The only thing i’ve heard is that Gollum falls over the side while fighting Frodo, not after biting the ring off and dacing of happiness. Also Frodo goes over the edge too but manages to hold and is pulled up by Sam
Hate to reply to myself but here is a very juicy bit of info:
From this review (some spoilers, nothing mayor)
Good collectione here:
http://www.council-of-elrond.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5141
(may require free registration)
Brian
If you’re inferring from this that the Scouring of the Shire will appear on a RotK EE DVD, I’m sorry, but it won’t be: PJ never shot any of the Scouring. There are quite a lot of other cuts that will be back, but not that.
Quite possible that the movie studio is sufficiently pleased with the series, that they are hoping for LOTR IV: The Scouring of the Shire. I have no idea if that could sustain a feature film, but then I’m sure Hollywood’s best writers are already planning ways to continue the franchise…
Since most film critics are already pissed that the ending after the destruction of the Ring is too long, it is very unlikely that Jackson would piss them off even more by adding even more epilogue.
PJ doesn’t have to worry about what film critics think of the DVDs, as they’ve already judged the theatrical version. The extended editions are for fans, and he’s not worried about "mucking up the momentum:
However, PJ’s been trying to tell us for year’s that particular “notable part of the book” was never filmed. To do it now that the original sets have been destroyed would be a huge undertaking.