[Mooncalf]

Whoa-- did I miss something?! The Hobbit was written for <I>children??</I> I don't think so... I read it when I was fourteen and just barely managed to get through the complicated syntax and all that, there's no way a kid could read it.<P>Sure, the plot would be less dark. The Hobbit is a lot lighter than LOTR and has a happier ending, but that doesn't make it childish.<P>But, yeah, because it's less dark, people who had never read any of the books might be expecting something more like LOTR and would be disappointed... but people who see a movie-from-book without reading the book first (or intending to read the book) are scum anyway. Kidding, of course.... <P>I'd really like to see what the producers of LOTR could do with the Hobbit. I think they'd do a pretty impressive job.