[Elladan and Elrohir]

It's at least worth a debate, anyway. Just be careful not to fall off topic about whether LOTR was indeed shown to be a "filmable" book, which is another thread in itself.

On the one hand, I'm inclined to agree with davem that if Tolkien couldn't do it, why should PJ bother trying? On the other, StW makes the good point that JRRT is in the end a fallible human like the rest of us. I think surely that the issue of the difference in mediums between a book and a movie should come into play here. Is PJ making a PG-13 Hobbit essentially the same as JRRT writing a PG-13 Hobbit? Or do the differences in the two forms of art make it possible for PJ to succeed where Tolkien failed?

I haven't made up my mind either way on this issue, honestly. And of course, though I've learned a lot about the book/movie differences, I'm still rather a novice in that area. Not to mention that I haven't even read Tolkien's "darker Hobbit." I'll let somebody else talk now.