> And from the other side, I was blown away by the movie and felt it was a > very loving and respectful version of Tolkien's vision. I saw it for the > second time tonight and found it even more engrossing than the first. > > I am very glad you have enjoyed it so much and don't mean to dampen your enthusiasm. I do plan on seeing it again at some point and perhaps I'll be able to enjoy more of it, after having gone through the initial shock of having seen a live action version. I do not doubt that his [Jackson's] intentions were good and that it was done in a loving manner. However, it was very dark, with a heavy emphasis on the dark lord and Mordor. I would have put in fewer references to the darkness and left a little more up to the imagination...in effect I think the visuals would have been more powerful...for example, I would have spent a little more time with Bree, played out the scene at Inn a little more, worked a little harder at building/establishing the relationship between Aragorn and Frodo. I guess I got tired of being constantly reminded of Sauron almost every other scene. I think he could have still had a blockbuster hit with just a little less emphasis on the darkness and a little more depth to some of the scenes and characters. I loved the Shire scenes in the movie, very much and was engrossed at that point but after that, everything seemed to already be under the dark shadow of Mordor and everybody seemed to be grim and serious after that. In the book, there is a lightheartedness throughout those scenes that simply wasn't expressed very much in the movie. Just little things, like Aragorn and Bilbo singing together at Rivendell or reciting a poem to the elves, Sam falling in love with the pony Bill..the hobbits telling stories at the bar. I just think there could have been a little more of a balance and less of a feeling of despair. Yes, I know this would be no easy task and maybe not practical but nevertheless I would have preferred it a little less dark so early in the three movies. Sure, everybody knows that Dwarves and Elves don't see eye to eye but in the original, when Gimli the dwarf leaves Lothlorien, he has fallen in love with the lady, Galadriel, and changed his view of elves, and sees them in a better light. This is a major development in his character, and essential to understanding his relationship later with Legolas. It is things like that that are the heart of the story to me and if he had tried to just include a little more heart in his movie I think I would have been able to enjoy it more.
> I'll agree that he was a bit creepy but I loved the androgyny of the elves > in general. The sense I got from Rivendell and Loth-Lorien was that the > elves knew their time was nearly finished. They did suspect that but in the book, the elves clearly love to feast, sing, and recite poetry and he chose not to express that at all. It was as if they had already succombed to leaving middle earth, making Rivendell a ghost town, and that is simply not the case in the original story. I agree with what Christopher Tolkien said, that his father's works do not lend themselves to be made into a movie. Maybe I'm just too much of a hopeless romantic but I can't help it. :~} Victor > --- Johnson Victor --- [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- EarthLink: The #1 provider of the Real Internet.
