Whilst this is clearly an amateur, low-budget production, given that constraint, it's also remarkably successful. The casting is fairly solid, the pacing and action choreography are excellent, and whilst the visual effects have clearly aged, the practical effects and costumes are really very good. It's also a remarkably faithful adaptation, not just to the books, but to Peter Jackson's take on this universe as well. Whilst the plot sticks largely to the actual adventures of Aragorn and Gollum, it also spices things up, imagining various unwritten (but highly plausible) encounters with Sauron's forces and other inhabitants of the region, all whilst weaving in small bits of trivia from the extended material and pairing this with the visual aesthetics, production design, and film making tricks of the original trilogy.

If I had one particular quibble, it's that the style is so heavily borrowed as to outright rip off some sequences, which is a shame. Classic examples are the inn at Bree, which feels almost shot-for-shot for scenes in the movies, including a Peter Jackson cameo-a-like. Still, when your Gandalf does an Ian McKellen impression this well, you can see why you might get carried away a bit. All in all, a well-made inclusion to the cannon.