[Bill Ferny]

I suppose if you take your question as can one imitate a book perfectly on screen, then no, that would be impossible. Can someone imitate a book adequately on screen to still be considered worthy of bearing the same title? I think there are enough examples out there that have. The problem with LotR and Christopher Tolkien resides in the fact that someone like Mr. Tolkien couldn’t seriously, after all his work and research and dedication, conceive of a film adaptation adequate enough to capture all he knows of Middle-Earth. A quick look at the movies section bears this out in regard to many Barrow Downers. Simply put, we, like Christopher Tolkien, know too much about Middle-Earth for the likes of Peter Jackson.

So, what can we do? Well, first, the movie in its own right was pretty darn good, especially for its visual potrayal. What I did was suspend all my knowledge of Middle-Earth and Tolkienology, and sat there and enjoyed a good story, albeit familiar, but not the same.