it is infinitely better film guide than Sibley's movie guide written year before, at least in the scope of the topics and trivia covered. If you do not have an access to the documentaries about the movies, this book covers pretty much the gist of all the departments involved in the making of them. The third movie is still sorely missed, as the book came out before. Still, the information is abundant. The paperback edition is lacking in quality, as pages fall out easily, so if you are looking for one copy, buy a hardcover one.

Yes yes yes! This was an engrossing behind-the-scenes that was hard to put down. It gave me all the nostalgia of watching and re-watching the movies countless times back when they first came out, and also made me want to watch them all again. On top of that, the book made me wish I had been involved in the making of the movie (it seemed like a thrill ride) despite the backbreaking work that went into it. I am amazed at the thousands of details that went into making the LOTR films, and this book taught me so much. A few of the stories that stuck out to me were: 1) the environmental lawyer negotiating with conservationist groups, native tribes, and several other committees for use of the gorgeous locations used, 2) the painstaking detail that went into scaling the various models and actors, including using smaller and larger versions of identical looking horse and cart for Gandalf scenes depending on reference point, 3) the sheer bulk of materials needed for costume and scenery i.e. thousands of silk leaves shipped from China used to create Fangorn Forest, 4) the talent and passion within each contributor to the film-making process-I love how each person perfectly fit their role, and were dedicated to authenticity, including craftsmanship and functionality of for instance the weaponry, and finally 5) the thousands of hours of work that goes into making 2.5 hours of perfect film. I learned that the sound effects team used an audience at a cricket match to stomp, yell, chant, etc. in order to create the sound experience of an army of Uruk-Hai. Also, 90% of dialogue in a scene is later recorded in the studio. And the work that Howard Shore and the symphony orchestra and choir put into the soundtrack.... it is way more moving pieces than I could keep track of. I really shouldn't have been surprised that all of that work went into the process, since it yielded a masterpiece.

Excellent!

Insightful and informative, but nothing to write home about.

Most of the pictures and stories in here can be found in the documentaries on the extended editions of the movies, so I felt I might as well just watch those. And frankly the writing was rather choppy and half-hazard. He switches between subjects without ever really finishing his exploration of one idea. For instance, Sibley starts off talking about digital effects, and you feel like he's going to get into the details... when suddenly he's on to editing and sound effects, and never comes back. There's never really solid introductions or conclusions in each chapter, and he cuts off when he could have said much more.

I liked the little blurbs about specific aspects of the movie, like a conversation with Merry and Pippin or how they created Gollum on screen, but the general authorial voice was lacking. I would have appreciated much more insight into the actors themselves, and their specific experiences on set, or an analyzation of the characters and how they came to life on screen. While yes, this is about the making of the movie, it would have been great to get into the design/creative process in how they wrote the script, how they designed the cultures, more of the artwork and things like that... and he doesn't even delve into the influence of Tolkien's books at all!

Frankly the design of the book overall could have been a little cleaner as well. There are too many tiny little photos in corners with bad lighting and cropping. There should have been more full-page pictures, and the types of pictures could have been organized better (too many unlike things split together on one page). I loved the design and organization of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: The Official Illustrated Movie Companion much more.

Also, this movie companion was written just after the release of Fellowship of the Ring, and even though all the movies were all filmed at the same time, there's very little distinction between each of the stories or information about the latter movies.

fascinates me

My sister got this free when she bought the 2nd film on dvd, it's such a good read

Good overview of the making of the trilogy. Sibley is the man behind the BBC radio version of LOTR, so it was quite nice to read this.

The ending of this book was so satisfying. It tied up all the loose ends and left me with a sense of closure.

A very informative, behind the scenes look at what made the movies great. As someone who holds the movie trilogy near and dear to my heart, this book was pretty cool.

Lots of behind-the-scenes information on the making of the movies. However, a lot of it focused on the work at Weta, which has been covered by many of the other movie tie-in books. It would have been interesting to read more about the filming process.

Took a while but loved it.

This was very good and interesting!