[BradyLS]

Am I the only one around that thought the LOTR was too-hyped? I was completely unimpressed, but due in large part to all the constant hype. All movies were OK, but unworthy of all the praise.

No flames from me. I thought FoTR the best of the three and worth the hype. Two Towers I thought the biggest stumble: great opening but all the padding around the Helms Deep battle basically derailed the story and, on balance, sucked. RoTK was good, but not great. More over-the-top fighty-fighty (though Theoden's speech and the launch of the charge was awesome) and more goofy material not found in the books reduced everything to mundane action-adventure.

Nanria I found truer to the source material, more evenly paced, just as funny, and just as much of an effects spectacular. My only change would be more screentime for Aslan and more dialogue to set up the sacrifice.

[AnAmericanMother]

I agree with you that Aslan's sacrifice needed more setup. In the book, it's very plain (or at least much plainer - I didn't get it the first time I read it, but then again, I was only 6).

I would not be surprised if that dialogue was truncated because of the distributor's fears that the movie was already "too Christian."