The “Lord of the Rings” (LOTR) movie trilogy represents the greatest fantasy movies ever, definitely on my Top 10 list of all-time favorite works on film. A hobbit gets a mysterious and mystical ring handed down to him by his uncle and finds himself forced into an epic, gritty adventure with his three friends. This one has everything a great fantasy epic should have—awesome characters, fearsome villains (among them actor Christopher Lee, no less), imaginative monsters and fully developed settings. Better than the novels upon which they were based, the LOTR movies cut out much of the fat from the books. And unlike most origin movies (which tend to be on the lame side), this first chapter of the trilogy actually contains some of the most exciting scenes in the entire franchise.

Extra:

• I give 90% for the theatrical version and 95% for the extended edition. To calculate the Wise Rating, I averaged both and rounded it out to 93%.