[Luthien_ Tinuviel]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> Personally, I liked all of the scenes which marked the closing stages of the film, although the "reunion" of the Fellowship in Minas Tirith could perhaps have been shortened. I found the Grey Havens sequence to be exceptionally moving, moreso second time round for some reason. <BR> <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>I enjoyed all of the ending bits, too, especially the second time. It's strange how it's almost better the second time than the first. <P>I definately agree with Saucepan Man in saying that the theatrical (or even the EE, for the most part) did not need a longer end, and would have had trouble if it did. I've heard comments on the length, too, even though I loved it. <P> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> It all seemed too packaged - Aragorn's Kingship (and the cliched speech he gave upon accepting it), Sam's wedding, Bilbo's and Frodo's last journey. It felt as if the ending was being fed to us, that Peter Jackson was trying to break down Professor Tolkien's ending into easily digestible soundbytes that forced us to believe that everything had been wrapped up ship-shape. For me, at least, it did not convey the sad, operatic aura that clung like a dreary fog to the end of The Lord of the Rings books, and this for me was a tragedy because Peter Jackson brought across the feeling of Tolkien's novel so well in most other places, and this was the one place I had hoped he would succeed the most.<BR> <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>It actually worked for me- and well, at that. I can easily say that the twenty minutes at the end are my favorite part. Maybe it's just me, but by the end I was so absorbed into the movie (and enjoying it so much) that I didn't notice any "package-like tendencies". I would say that the one problem for non-book readers is that they didn't really explain Frodo's need to depart. I think that if I had seen that part without reading the book, I would have been more bewildered than grieved, and trying to figure out just why he should go and just where he's going. They did some excellent build-up scenes (the Green Dragon with pumpkin scene, and the one with Frodo alone in Bag End, followed by Sam's entrance and Frodo's comment about Weathertop). But I don't think that they really emphasized Frodo's need to go, which was necessary for the audience to understand. The ending was still effective, but it left a lot of people confused.