Ummm... not to be picky, but 33 years is when a hobbit came of age - that is - one is recognized as an adult. Thus, at Bilbo's eleventyone birthday, combined with Frodo's 33rd birthday, their ages totaled 144, or one gross - the same number of people under the pavillion under the "party tree" at Bag End. Fifty was more reaching their prime.

I thought the lack of gore in the combat sequences refreshing. Everyone knows you bleed like a stuck orc when a limb gets hacked off - so hint at it and move on.

So much of Tolkein's work is centered on creating the atmosphere and describing the environment the Fellowship moves through, it is almost impossible to capture that in a film. That's life, I guess.

Remember, when Bilbo first speaks, he looks identical to how he looked when he found the Ring. He was 50 at the time he found it and is 111 at the time of the party. The power of the Ring extends mortal life - it gets talked about quite a bit in the book. So - when Frodo sets out 17 years after getting Ring, he looks very much the same as he did in his early 30's.

Aragorn's age is not openly discussed in the books. However - he makes mention of knowing a certain Rider of Rohan's father, and grandfather if I remember right. THis makes him probably 100 years of age - allowing for a man of pure blood taking up arms by 20 or so. He does mention in the book that it would take the hobbits many years of living in the wild to look as he does. So, who knows...

Ah well...

Pete