Which do you think is the best movie from The Lord of the Rings trilogy and why?

I liked the second for the big battle scenes.

I liked the second one best because I’m a big fan of the Rohan people.

I’ve always been partial to The Two Towers, particularly for the Battle of Helm’s Deep, and the sheer amount of the history of Middle Earth that is revealed by the Ents and by Gandalf. The movie loses much of the beauty of The Two Towers (like the development of the friendship between Legolas and Gimli) and focuses a bit too much on Eowyn, but it is still my favourite of the movies.

Hmm. I like The Two Towers least by far. The battle scenes go on and on on ON and on and on, and the only thing drearier is the quantities of soporific slow-motion time we spend with the Ents. I’d love to be able to do my own edit of that whole movie.

There are great moments in each of them, but I think I probably enjoy the first one the most. Once into it, I always have to go on—can’t stop there.

The Fellowship of the Ring has always been my favourite book of the three and I preferred the first film to the others. It conjured up the feeling of being in Middle Earth in a more convincing way than the later books. I love the descriptions of the Shire and Gandalf’s hints of trouble brewing in distant places.I liked the banding together of elves, dwarves, men and hobbits in a united fellowship and the descriptions of their travels towards Mount Doom. Just thinking about it makes me want to read it all over again.

I like the Two Towers because I think that’s where most of the story is. The 3rd one had too many endings for my liking.

I agree with @shpadoinkle_sue the return of the King was my least favourite because of the ending dragging on. As for the book, it drags on and on even worse than the movie. I never could read past the Paths of the Dead without a desperate urge to read something more exciting. Like maybe the phone book..

I prefer the first. the second is a bit on and on, and the third has too many endings, only to keep going.

The first, because I was able to sit through the whole thing. Not that the other two are bad, I just couldn’t stay focused.

If considered as a single work I would take the Two Towers, but as an adaptation from the book the first one is the only one that came close. I thought they got steadily worse as the series went on.

That being said I’m pretty excited about the prospect of the Hobbit…