All of the Rings pictures were great but they pulled out all the stops on this one. Some times trilogies don't come together in the end but this is a classic so it had to be good. I have read the Hobbit and the Silmirilion (sp) (twice) and you can't do any better than Tolken. The movie deserves all the accolades it receives and then some. The script the locations the directing the cinemetography, the editing I good go on. Who says they don't make them like the used to.