9. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy
Theatrical: 558 minutesExtended: 683 minutes Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy is a stunning fantasy. In theatrical form, Rings already offers powerful emotion, epic scope and unforgettable, peyote-tinged imagery that Tolkien's novels both inspired and demanded. Can the extended version of the series really be an 'improvement,' then? Well, surprisingly, yes - the extra material found in the home video releases of Rings only adds to the trilogy's impact, even if it makes a lengthy demon even longer. As Jackson's work on Rings is so incomparable, any extra footage would've been welcome. But there's a whole two hours, an entire feature's worth of extended scenes and entirely new ones adding more of the saga's high emotion and exceptional design work. Most memorable in the extended editions is the hideous Mouth of Sauron, the messenger that emerges from Mordor's gates of hell at the extended trilogy's close, before proceeding to pontificate through a gob full of black ooze. But it turns out that none of what was cut was mere filler - it simply doesn't feel like the extended material should ever have been removed, fitting so seamlessly as it does within the framework of the series. The love and dedication felt in Jackson's theatrical version is only intensified in its extensions.