Tolkien, J.R.R. : LOTR and The Hobbit : Film & TV

[Trisha]

I actually loved the LOTR movies...until I read the novels. I couldn't believe how much they cut from the movies! There were so many little adventures that never even made it into the film, which was surprising because the books are rather small. I think they did an excellent job with the special effects though, and I still kinda like the films... anyways, I'm a little nervous about The Hobbit. They are turning it into a trilogy! How in the world are they going to stretch that tiny book into three movies?!

[Megan]

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings movies were not anywhere close to how I imagined the books, but I respect and enjoy Peter Jackson's interpretations. I miss Glorfindel the most, but I could do without Tom Bombadil's silly singing. The Barrow-downs would have been pretty cool to see, though.

[Jenny]

I watched the LOTR movies first, but when I read the books I was bummed that they hadn't included Tom Bomadil in the film.

I saw The Hobbit last week and it was really great. Honestly I'm glad they're stretching it out because if they had to fit everything into one film they wouldn't be able to include so much of the beautiful landscapes. There were a lot of action scenes that added length. It's been a few years since I've read the book, but I think they added some background story that wasn't in the novel.

Considering that the second movie is titled The Desolation of Smaug, I think he's going to be in it a lot.

[Emily]

I've not read any of the books, but love the LOTR movies, and I am determined to read those books (hopefully this year). I hope I don't get swamped in the strange names and general fantasy world building-ness (I'm intimidated in the same way to read Game of Thrones, which is waiting on my shelf).

[Trisha]

Game of Thrones is a little tricky because there are sooooo many characters. However, it is a really great story! I have read the first 4 books in the series and plan to read the 5th. The novels are a little confusing in the beginning as you try to figure out who's who (or remember who is who), but after that it's really a great read! Maybe it will be one of our Potential Classics nominations!

[Trisha]

Just saw The Hobbit and thought it was great! There was a bit of back story from "The Silmarilion", but it just added to the storyline. I can't believe they broke up such a small book into 3 movies! I guess it's all the action sequences. Still a fun movie though, and I can't wait to see the next one.

[Tahca]

I love LOTR movies but I disappointed that they did not include Tom Bombadil,Goldberry,Glorfindel,The Barrow Downs, and all the parts of the book where Frodo thinks he see's something (Gollum) following them.

I enjoyed The Hobbit and I liked how they added Azog. However, it had a lot of one liners and those usually ruin movies.

[Holly]

I personally watched the LOTR movies from a very young age, and have only just got round to reading them this summer, and I love both. For me, the cinematography of the films make them worthwhile. The books are amazing, and I love them for their literary standards. I'm surprised they made the LOTR films as well as they did, even if they did have to cut a lot of stuff out. Ultimately, the films could have been seriously bad in my opinion, but I think they've done a good job :)

[[deleted user]]

I loved the LOTR movies, and found the effects wonderful. I have only made it through "The Fellowship of the Ring" so far, and was surprised at how different the book is from the movie!

As for "The Hobbit," I hate what they have done to it. SO MANY THINGS never happened in the book that they have put in the movies! I may hate the changes (where did the White Orc come from? since when is there a character called Tauriel? when did Gandalf go to Dol Guldur?) To make "The Hobbit" into three two-hour plus long movies seems ridiculous!

Sad thing is, though I hate how different the movies are from the book, I still love them. They are definitely entertaining, and I will be in the theatre watching "The Battle of the Five Armies" when it comes out!

[Steve]

Changes Peter Jackson made to LOTR that deserve a thumbs up or down.

I think getting Arwen off the pedestal and into the action deserves a big thumbs up.

I know it would have been difficult, but he owed it to fans to find a place for Tom Bombadil in his streamlined script. Thumbs down.

[Katy, Quarterly Long Reads]

Yes, I do love Tom Bombadil.

[Sarah]

Maybe because I saw the movies first and that is what prompted me to read the books (for LotR anyway), I like the movies more. I enjoy the books a great deal, but I love the movies.
There are passages of the books that drag on endlessly and the movies did well speeding those up or cutting them entirely.

I don't like Tom Bombadil so him not being in the movie was a plus for me, not going to lie.

[Katy, Quarterly Long Reads]

The movies are done extremely well in my opinion. Loved them.

[zed]

My personal opinion for what its worth. I am going to probably be a dissenting voice when it comes to the films. After a bright start with the first film IMO they rapidly deteriorated. I accepted that the 1st film would have to leave events/characters out so was fine with the lack of Bombadil as one example so with that had looked forward to the next release. After sitting uncomfortably through the 2nd film they all went down hill for me personally to the point I stopped in the middle of the 2nd Hobbit film and have never even bothered with the last one.

Pros. Some good casting. Gollum outstanding for example. Viggo Mortensen as Aragon. As anyone who has been to New Zealand will attest the scenery on the films was the outstanding feature. Such a beautiful country.
Cons. Overacting that got tedious. My couple of examples are Sean Astin as Sam and John Rhys Davies as Gimli. I started to despise the faux accent with a passion and the permanent "Mr Frodo, Mr Frodo" that seemed to be in every sentence. It became wearing. I blame Peter Jackson for this but Gimli was made out to be an idiot at times, the jumping up and down in the grass scene for example, and he was never that in the books. He was a representative of his people and with that a warrior with pride.
The changing of the plot was horrible and turning Faramir into Boromir, left me cold. The Aragon battle with the Warg. I found myself in the cinema annoyed at this scene. Why bother considering the amount of material left out. I could go on.

The Hobbit films for me just got worse. I was first read the book as a 7 or 8 year old by a student my parents lodged as I think she may have been a bit hippy who wanted to read it to a young kid. It was what it always was, a children's fantasy and with that a great one at that. For me Jackson has just made films that are indulgent and pretentiously extravagant. The appearance of LoTR characters to fill the film into a trilogy just kills a great children's tale.

[Wreade1872]

4ZZZ wrote: "My personal opinion for what its worth. I am going to probably be a dissenting voice when it comes to the films. After a bright start with the first film IMO they rapidly deteriorated. I accepted t..."

My only real issues with the film trilogy was the arwen/aragorn storyline which they completely butchered.

The hobbit movies though are awful. Not because of the scenes some complain about like all the eating and drinking bits but because of the action.

Jackson started to lose his mojo during King Kong (which i really like overall) the two worst parts of that movie are the dinosaur stampede and the King Kong vs T-Rex fight. They're a cgi rollcoaster ride that never seems to stop. Too complicated and ridiculous to enjoy (for me).
And EVERY freaking action scene in the Hobbit is done the same way, overly long, overly elaborate, boring as heck .

[zed]

Wreade1872 wrote: "4ZZZ wrote: "My personal opinion for what its worth. I am going to probably be a dissenting voice when it comes to the films. After a bright start with the first film IMO they rapidly deteriorated...."

I have never seen any other Peter Jackson films. Perhaps I need to steer clear? :-)

[Nente]

Why isn't anyone discussing the animated Hobbit? It is a little curtailed, but I personally loved it.
As for Peter Jackson films, LotR has several good points (casting, soundtrack, scenery), but Hobbit is inexcusable in my opinion. I felt as if it was made with only one thing in mind: profit.

Re an old comment there above: Gandalf did go to Dol Guldur during or near the events described in the Hobbit (I rather think that's where he was in so much hurry to get to, leaving them all to go through Murkwood without him) - but we only get to know it in LotR, at Elrond's council I think.
(yeah, an obsessed fan here)

[Wreade1872]

Nente wrote: "Why isn't anyone discussing the animated Hobbit? It is a little curtailed, but I personally loved it.
As for Peter Jackson films, LotR has several good points (casting, soundtrack, scenery), but Ho..."

I'm pretty sure it makes where Gandalf goes clear in the Hobbit, at least from what i recollect been a while since i've read it.

You know i had never heard of that animated version until the live action movies came out and people mentioned the animated version in reviews and stuff. Never knew it existed and still have never seen it.

[Nente]

It was drawn (partly?) by Japanese artists, and the characters all have round eyes like in anime =)
I also loved the songs there. Saw it way before the Hobbit film, though after LotR. Strongly recommend to anyone who doesn't think animations are children-only.

[Katy, Quarterly Long Reads]

Nente wrote: "It was drawn (partly?) by Japanese artists, and the characters all have round eyes like in anime =)
I also loved the songs there. Saw it way before the Hobbit film, though after LotR. Strongly rec..."

I'm going to have to look that one up.

[SherryRose]

Kathy wrote: "Nente wrote: "It was drawn (partly?) by Japanese artists, and the characters all have round eyes like in anime =)
I also loved the songs there. Saw it way before the Hobbit film, though after LotR..."

Here it is Kathy!
www.dailymotion.com/video/x3r5g35_the...

[Steve]

Nente wrote: "but Hobbit is inexcusable in my opinion"

Especially the cartoonish action sequences. Suspension of disbelief--right out the window! At least when Wily Coyote (Warner Bros. cartoons) fell a thousand feet to the desert floor, he had to crawl out of his hole and hobble off screen before coming back in one piece. Thorin and Co. survived similar stunts with only a few aches, pains and groans. I'd never watch these films a second time. I've been a Tolkien fan since 1965.

[Katy, Quarterly Long Reads]

Thank you Sherry

[Nathalie]

Matt wrote: "I have the extended version of the LOTR trilogy on blu-ray and plan to watch all of them after I finish Return of the King. It would be awesome to binge watch them all back to back but my family ma..."

Great idea, Matt!

I wonder if there's any risk of spoilers if you watch each film after finishing each book? I'm about to finish the first book and I'm not sure if I can wait to watch the films after I've read all three. I must admit that I have at least seen the first film when if first came out and probably the 2nd also, but I can't remember a thing about them.

As for the Hobbit I was very disappointed with the film-version. There was a lot of unnecessary action and I actually got bored while I really enjoyed the book.

[Myst]

Nathalie wrote: "Matt wrote: "I have the extended version of the LOTR trilogy on blu-ray and plan to watch all of them after I finish Return of the King. It would be awesome to binge watch them all back to back but..."

The movies shifted scenes around compared to the books. Especially books 2 and 3. Sam and Frodo for example are hardly in book 2, but are in book 3 a lot as I recall. But since Frodo is the 'star' of the movies, they had to shift things so he had time in movie 2.

I enjoyed the book trilogy, couldn't stand the hobbit book so I enjoyed the hobbit movies more, although I thought a trilogy out of that thin kids book was a bit much. I love love love the LotR movie trilogy though. Compared to most book to movie adaptations it did a really good job.

I need to get my hands on the hobbit movies, then binge watch all 6 extended movies one weekend...

[Jen]

For those with access to BBC iplayer there's currently a series named 'sleuths, spies & sorcerers', the latest episode is on fantasy & has some lovely LOTR factoids! ^_^

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/...

edit: There's a section called 'the Hobbit in 6 seconds', which is particularly good

[Sarah]

Myst wrote: "Nathalie wrote: "Matt wrote: "I have the extended version of the LOTR trilogy on blu-ray and plan to watch all of them after I finish Return of the King. It would be awesome to binge watch them all..."

I have all six extended editions and I plan to do exactly that one snowy weekend this winter :)

[Blueberry]

Here's a review and analysis of The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Rings from a site I enjoy.

http://www.wisecrack.co/shows/thug-no...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V8zD...

[Nathalie]

Myst wrote: "Nathalie wrote: "Matt wrote: "I have the extended version of the LOTR trilogy on blu-ray and plan to watch all of them after I finish Return of the King. It would be awesome to binge watch them all..."

Thank you for clearing that out for me. I'll just read all 3 books first then. Love your idea of binge watching them all over the course of a weekend.

[Phil]

Wow, only one mention of the animated Hobbit, and zero mentions of the animated LotR? This thread makes me feel old.

The animated Hobbit is great. I think it's actually better than the Jackson films. For one thing, the Hobbit always had a sense of childlike wonder and joy to it that the Jackson films replace with brooding darkness and ludicrous CGI. For another thing, the Goblin King in the Jackson movie has a chin like a scrotum, and that's just unwelcome.

Here's a pic if you don't believe me:
(view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)]

[Phil]

A couple more comments about the Hobbit movies: Christopher Tolkien is running the estate right now, and he refused to sell rights to the Silmarillion and other material, so the extra stuff in the Hobbit is all either made up or from the LotR appendices.

Nente mentioned that there were Japanese animators on the animated Hobbit. Truth be told, there were Japanese animators on everything in the 70s and 80s. However, the film was produced by the Rankin & Bass team that also did the classic Last Unicorn animated movie as well as the stop-motion Christmas movies (Rudolph and the Island of Misfit Toys, etc.) They also did a Return of the King movie that was... less successful. Although it did have a great folk tune in it called, (view spoiler)["Frodo of the Nine Fingers." (hide spoiler)]

[Nente]

Re Japanese animators: I remember reading that some of the team which worked on Hobbit went on to create Studio Ghibli!