OK, I'll agree that P.J.'s version was a little over the top, but you have to remember that film is a <I>visual</I> medium. It's a little hard to portray what a character is thinking without using a lot of boring "voice-over" exposition.<P>So you have to show it. And I think what Jackson was trying to show is what Bree would look like to a bunch of tired, hungry, frightened Halflings who had never been out of the Shire.<P>Sometimes I think Tolkien kind of glosses over or tones down the Hobbit's reactions to the rest of Middle-earth. I mean, just think: you've spent your entire life in a world where everything and everybody is sized just right for you, and suddenly you are thrust into another world, where everyone is twice your height, and you have to cope with everything around you being geared to <I>those</I> people. Stairs and chairs alone would be a pain in the butt to deal with. <P>I can't help but think that sometimes the Hobbits must have got tired of being surrounded by giant freaks with over-active pineal glands.
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