Top 5...
 

...pet peeves with the movies (feel free to add yours)

I'll probably start another thread with what I like about them next week or something..

5. Frodo did not ride alone to Rivendell

4. Travel time does not apply. ex. moving Frodo all the way to Osgiliath, Elrond getting to Rohan in record time (him going there is an annoyance in itself, more on that in a bit).

3. The great ectoplasiming of Minas Tirith

2. Anduril is not reforged before departing Rivendell. It was a key symbolic point of the books that Aragorn leaves from his childhood home with his legacy.

1. Misquotes and/or weird use of language and/or shifting quotes to others.

Mirror of Galadriel: "..things that were, things that are, and some things that have not yet come to pass." There is no reason here for them to break from using forms of "be" and use "come to pass". The line should have been "yet may be". The line even feels awkward as she's saying it.

1) No Tom Bombadil! How could they?
2) That strange battle in which Aragorn dies/is belived dead, sees Arwen/has a dream that adds nothing to the plot.
3) The whole 'dwarf tossing' joke. That was a bit much.
4) Elrond is so bitter. What did we ever do to him?
5) All poetry was abolished. And I was so looking forward to the tunes they used, too! Drat!

In addition to everything mentioned above,
5. Elves at Helm's Deep
4. that whole 'Arwen is dying' nonsense
3. Théoden about to spew green pea soup (aka The Exorcist at Edoras)
2. Gollum made cute rather than wretched+dangerous+pitiful
1. Frodo sending Sam away

5. The shield surf
4. How annoyed and critical we all get with PJ's take (overall he did a good job yet we are pedantic all the same)
3. Where the crap is Glorfindel? Why would Arwen go out...WHY!!!!
2. Faramir turns quasi-corrupt
1. I have to agree with Pitch that the WORST thing is Frodo turning Samwise away the whole scene was absolute rubbish. It just made me want to vomit.

1. No great scene with Saruman at Bag End!

2. Nutty Denethor.

3. Stupid Ents.

4. Uncertain Aragorn.

5. Too many battle scenes.

I actually like the way Arwen was used in FotR as a
sort of ZenaArwen (rather sexy and gave her more to do and generally
kept Glorfindel's actions intact). But minus points for not having Frodo speak to
the Black Riders at the Ford of Bruinen:
Five worst bits
1) Gandalf physically assaults the Stewart (against the specific
ban on the Wizards interfering (see Unfinished Tales).
2) Screwing up my favorite LotR character (Faramir).
3) The Green Slime at the Pelennor Fields (makes pointless the
whole charge of the Rohirrim which, of course, was probably why
Tolkien limited the Army of the Dead actions).
4) The inept way PJ portrayed the charge of the Rohirrim. Instead
of in broad daylight it should have been like the book, start it in
dark, have Theoden give a bit of his book speech:
He takes horn from Guthlaf and blows on it,
then charges ahead of the Eotheod as the sun begins to
come out and shines brightly on his shield.
5) The ridiculous way Merry and Pippin tricked Treebeard into
going to Orthanc. Why not have the ents vote to go there
and recite their marching song en route?

Fair points Tuor on the Army of the Dead. That does annoy me and I had forgotten it. I would replace the shield surfing scene with that in order of things that bother me.

1) Elves at Helm's Deep
2) Aragorn doesn't have the shards with him.
3)Frodo stamping out the fire at Weathertop
4)sends Sam away
5)(I know it's a difficult to portray on film but....)Frodo is WAAAY too whiny

Compunded by Agent Elrond intimating to Gandalf that movie Frodo
has performed so well getting to Rivendell. (In the movie, exactly how?)

I know that this does not happen but I'm curious as to why this would be on your top 5 list as it seems rather minor.

There are quite a few pet peeves:

1) Frodo, Pippin and Merry, and Gimli are entirely out of character. Frodo is portrayed as a weak pansy, Pippin and Merry are utter morons, and Gimli is just the useless dwarf who is there only to entertain. Oh, even Elrond did not act like himself.
2)Glorfindel and Gildor do not appear. I will KILL Jackson some day.
3)Aragorn is hyped up too much. He stole Legolas' role in Lothlorien AND his line about having no fear when they were about to enter the paths of the dead.
4)No Tom Bombadil. Need I say more?
5)Frodo actually tells Sam to get lost. That was one part where I nearly tore my hair out.
6)Shelob's lair was useless. That was the best chapter in the book, and practically NOTHING happens in the movie.
7)Legolas serves no purpose in the movies. He saves everyone's life in the books (The Great River).
8)The bit about Frodo singing and dancing on the table and then falling off is removed!
9)Gandalf is actually beaten by the Witch-King. What. The. Heck.
10)Faramir is a DIFFERENT person in the movies.
Um, I could go on and on...

My favorite character in the book!

Of course, PJ also savages Denethor. PJ talks about
"story arcs" being necessary for Faramir but then makes
Denethor an incredibly incompetent, irrational character
with no "story arc" at all with an incomprehensible
defense policy for Gondor.

1--20). They emasculated Gandalf. After the first movie, he would,ve been better off if they'd left him dead. Never mess with a person's favorite character in literature. :mad:

Yeah, but it was still really irritating :p

[QUOTE
4. that whole 'Arwen is dying' nonsense
[/QUOTE]

Tell me about it. The movie made me want to hate her (in the books I find her annoying because Tolkien compares her to Lúthien lol)

1. Wargs were replaced with suicidal hyenas.

2. No Warg scene on the way to Caradhras (or was it Moria?) where they surround the fellowship, Gandalf kills a few, etc.

3. Ents, especially Treebeard, treated as boring and stupid.

4. Frodo/Sam/Gollum lembas saga

5. Giant flaming eyeball (can't believe no-one mentioned this yet).

1. Major characters given personalities diametrically opposite to how Tolkien created them...eg Tolkien-Theoden "kindly old man" while film-Theoden angry and bitter, in fact playing the role of book-Denethor;
meanwhile Denethor himself - a leader who in the book did his utmost to defend Gondor, ordering the beacons to be lit and the Arrow to summon Rohan: "tall, valiant, more kingly than any man that had appeared in Gondor for many lives of men") turned into a drooling Nero-esque sybarite.

2. Major characters who were not actually transformed were trivialised and made oafish (Gimli, Merry, Pippin) or embarrassingly wet and over-emotional. (Frodo, Eowyn)

3. The stupid Arwen-into-horse scene in TT (didn't actually mind the Arwen-on-horse in FotR)

4. The stupid Treebeard-tricking in TT

5. The stupid Arwen-is-leaving-then-dying thing in TT

1. Ents, especially Treebeard
2. Frodo/Sam/Gollum lembas saga
3. The stupid Arwen-into-horse scene in TT
4. Giant flaming eyeball
5. Elves at Helm's Deep

Off the top of my head

5) Turning the horror-scenes of the book into action scenes (ie. Black Riders, The Balrog...)
4) The stupid action scenes, like Legolas' ridiculous shield surfing, his climbing of ridiculously big Olliphants, the Dwarf-tossing, Sam fighting with cooking ware etc...
3) Denethor the retard
2) Stupid Ents (they actually annoy me in the books too, maybe I should start a thread about pet peeves in the books too?)
1) Almost about the entire RotK. In fact, don't think I've ever managed to sit it through.

Wait, did I mention that there was no Glorfindel or Gildor?

5) The ways in which Tolkien's masterpiece was at times lowered to the level of generic, trashy fantasy flicks, for example the line "give up the halfling, she-elf" in place of some really powerful stuff from the book.
4) Theoden not being a kind and noble old man, and refusing at first to help Gondor.
3) Unnecessary changes which caused internal inconsistencies e.g. Eomer riding north to nowheres in particular, or the Elves at Helm's Deep.
2) Aragorn's reluctance to confidently embrace his destiny.
1) The weakening of Frodo, examples being the absence of the barrow and his defiance of the Black Riders at the Ford of Bruinen.

1. The ruining of all the characters, yes all.
2. The addition of unnecessary scenes and the removal of great scenes.
3. Removal of great language/lines/dialogue.
4. General dumbing down, lowest common denominator pandering.
5. Major plot changes such as Frodo in Osgiliath and the undead army going to Minas Tirith etc etc etc.

I think its more of not 5 problems with the movies, are there 5 good points about the movies?

Lord of the Rings needs RedLetterMedia style reviews explaining why it is so bad.

#Edit
Also, after watching the entire extended edition yesterday, the music is incredibly dull.

5. Legolas' character- His character, while well-developed in the books, was massacred in the movies. He is the prince of an Elven realm, not just a good-looking tag-along.

4. The exclusion of Elladan, Elrohir and Halabarad while travelling through the Paths of Dead.

3. Merry's character was not developed at all. He is a wise and brave hobbit. Same case with Gimli's character. More often than not, he was used as comic relief.

2. The entire 'Aragorn supposed to be dead' part. It was a little unnecessary.

1. Merry and Pippin tricking the Ents. That riled me up quite a bit. And the removal of the poems/songs.

I do have a number of other pet peeves, but these 5 takes the cake.

By the way, this is my first post on this site, if you overlook the one I had posted to introduce myself.

4. I blame the audience for not reading the books first :D
5. Let's not go there.

I must say though, I adored the music.

This is maybe the first time I've heard a Tolkien fan say this! Can I ask, do you generally enjoy classical music?

Music is #1 on my short list of the good things in the movie. It's amazing.

Any idea if Howard Shore is composing the score for "The Hobbit"?

1. Frodo going to Osgiliath & the (mis) treatment of Faramir's character in the movie
2. Bringing Army of the Dead to Minas Tirith
3. Absence of palantir to explain Denethor's behaviour & his ridiculous death scene
4. Whole Aragorn is dead - oh no he isn't, unnecessary scenario
5. "Go home, Sam" travesty....

Yes, he is.

I generally enjoy classical music and I'm not rapt with the music. Especially hated the lothlorien elves wailing. I think it is ok in the cinema but in a smaller scale setting it lacks
subtlety.

I have to agree with you here. The Elves' theme wasn't done very well. But most other themes were. They repeat throughout, so when I watch the movies I start associating them with certain things. My favourite is what I mentally call the "history theme" that is played in the very beginning of FOTR. :p

Overall, though, I think the music is great. One of the few things that is. Also It's better than the music of many other movies that I've seen. It's solid, and some themes (not the Lorien one) are done very well.

I don't know..I do like a lot of film music.. it is just whenever I catch bits of the films on tv... it is as if - like with the script - they have assumed an audience iq just slightly above that of a house plant and that they have to sledge hammer everything in. I know music should enhance the visual but it is more like having audio description on, I know the Shire is a rural idyll without a twee little theme and I don't need a fanfare to understand that the mountain scenery is majestic.

I did think the visuals - costumes, props, sets were very good with minor exceptions (why did the Rohirrim have such tatty cloaks?)

I get what you're saying, but for me it's more than that. I guess we just have to leave it at that and agree to disagree. ;)

The scenery was beautiful, that's for sure. I like the costumes too. Since I'm nitpicky, I always point out that the hair colour is wrong for some characters. But that's really just me being prejudiced against PJ. :D And it's noting compared to the more major stuff that he put in the movie.

Will it surprise anybody that I like Leonard Rosenman's music for the old Bakshi film a lot better? Howard Shore has a talent for grand, catchy themes (which are his main strength in my opinion), but in terms of musical imagination and (to the very limited extent that I feel competent to judge that) structure, I don't think he can hold a candle to Rosenman.

My pet peeves

1. Aragorn didn't cry for Gandalf like he did in the books

2. Legolas didn't sing at all

3. Whiny Frodo

4. Haldir got killed

5. No twins at all whats up with that?!