I think we all need to remember that it is the movies that are largely being discussed in those articles, and not the books. Obviously both reviewers have a shallow grasp at best of any difference, and possibly if we brought the topic up with them they'd say something like, "Different? In what way?", requiring months and months of schooling.
PJ and co. (unfortunately for PJ he bears the brunt of any aggression, even though there were other 'creative' forces at work) have seen fit to modify, delete and add willy-nilly, despite assurances to the contrary. I'd like to point out one scene that many of you may have underestimated the importance of - the scene in which Pippin suggests to Merry that they just leave the war and go home:
Quote:
"We've got The Shire."
- Pippin
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To anyone from Aotearoa/New Zealand this comes as a smack in the face, because this has time and time again been the position we are in. At the current time we are more distant than ever from military allies the UK, US and Australia, and some people are suggesting the same thing as Pippin does - stay at home and forget about what are, at first glance, someone else's problems. We are after all the most hobbit-like country in the world, and hardly much more ready to fight a war. This particular Pippin/Merry scene in Fangorn seems an almost blatant wake-up call directed to New Zealanders, made to point out that many problems we fact today are global problems.
Tolkien did an admirable job of pointing out the dangers that The Shire was facing, but it took the movie version to throw it directly in our faces as a possible call to arms. Proof that there may be more of a political agenda, intended or otherwise in these films than we at first would like to believe. Sauron does not have to perfectly match Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden for the movies to be effective as propaganda.