[HCIsland]

You are not getting the scoring of The Shire. <P>It isn't a question of length here but one of pacing. Over a 1000 plus page book, Tolkien has the luxery of widing down to the ending and having some fun, a movie can't do that.<P>After the story climaxes in an action sequence (I'll try not to spoil for those that don't want to know), we need to begin to build towards the emotional climax at Grey Havens (at least I sure hope it is there). If the hobbits enter The Shire and suddenly there's all this bit about crooked Sheriffs and Sharky and ruffians, the typical theatre goer would be asking, what the hell is going on? Who are these new characters? I thought the movie was ending? They would be checking their watches and noticing that it's been almost three hours since they've sat down and they have to pee and now the hobbits are building a posse and the whole illusion of being swept into a different world will be lost.<P>This isn't about movie goers being dumb. It's just how films are structured, which is very different then a novel. You've got to keep the audience from realizing how long they've been sitting in that seat, which is something PJ does brilliantly.<P>H.C.