Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Platinum Series Extended Edition : 5 of 5

At last, I've watched every last minute of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Platinum Series Extended Edition, which has both the longest title and the most DVDs of material I've ever seen. Seeing the movie with the additional material was amazing - it was a joy to notice both the small scenes and the completely new ones, including the new opening montage as Bilbo begins to write his book and the giving of Galadriel's gifts. I really think it's a better movie with the extra material, though I can appreciate the difficult task of editing for a movie-going audience. The bonus DVDs contain tons of mini-documentaries, stills, and some extra-cool features like a navigable map of Middle Earth following the journeys of the Fellowship and Gandalf, plus an interactive map of New Zealand so you can see where they filmed all the beautiful locations. My favorite surprise from the bonus material was learning about the extensive use of miniatures! I thought for sure most of the movie was CG, but instead it was the hard work of model makers!