LONDON - The early reviews are in, and it looks like Frodo the Hobbit will run rings around Harry Potter.
After the world premiere of the ambitious and much-hyped film epic "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," British critics on Tuesday 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 newspaper 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' 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.
The Sun film critic said the fantasy plot was brought to life by effects and sets that put Potter's Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to shame.
"For all its wonderful sets, Potter looks, by comparison, like it was filmed in a garden shed."
"Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" ("Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" in the United states) opened last month to huge acclaim. Now critics say Harry Potter is child's play, while "The Lord of the Rings" may become a celluloid masterpiece.
