Just saw “Return of the King” tonight with my nephew Willy (his brother Sam saw the movie later today), and I agree with Willy’s assessment: it is the best of the Rings movies.

The first film was very good also, but the first and second films suffered from not having definite endings. The second film also seemed to stretch out way too long, so much so that elements of the “Two Towers” story extended into the last film, most notably the encounter with Shelob (at the end of the second novel, but shown in the middle of the last film). This prompted worries for me about the last film, as it measures three hours and nineteen minutes–but as it turns out, the time was well-spent this time.

A few things detracted from my enjoyment, such as the apparent lack of surprise by the hobbits upon finding Gandalf alive, the complete disappearance of Saruman from the story, and several rather radical changes in the story (such as with the hobbits’ return to the Shire). In some respects, the storyline was simplified to what seemed to me to be good effect. And though the film did slow down at points, it progressed more than well enough throughout most of the story to make up for that and more. The battle scenes were very well done, as was the progression of Frodo and Sam into Mordor (though I think Gollum’s reactions in his final scene were a bit off).

All in all, a very good movie series, that. I have the Special Extended DVDs for Fellowship of the Ring and Two Towers, and fully expect to get the same for Return of the King. Probably some day a year or more from now, with all three DVDs, I’ll sit down and have a 12-hour-or-more marathon of all three films. Maybe.