The early reviews are in and it looks like Frodo the Hobbit will run rings around Harry Potter.
After the world premiΦre of the much-hyped film epic, The Lord of the Rings, British critics yesterday proclaimed the boy wizard a mere pretender to the true magic of Frodo and friends.
"Forget Harry Potter, this has the true ring of greatness," the Daily Mail declared. Its film critic, Christopher Tookey, called the first film in director Peter Jackson's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy "an awesome feat of imagination and daring".
"Critics who gave five-star ratings to Chris Columbus's competent but uninspired Harry Potter movie are going to have to find 10 if they are to do justice to Fellowship of the Ring," he said.
"Harry Potter, be prepared to fall on your broomstick," said the Daily Express showbusiness correspondent Mark Jagasia.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone opened last month to huge acclaim. Now critics say Harry Potter is child's play while The Lord of the Rings may become a masterpiece. Top accolades were saved for the epic battles and grandeur of the sets in which lush forests, lakes and mountains of New Zealand are transformed into Tolkien's mythical Middle Earth. "It is as amazing as I thought it would be. I like action and there is lots of it," said Richard Earl (14), schoolboy turned critic, in the Times.
