Who here enjoyed the movie?

[Morsul the Dark]

I felt this as well but I didn't enjoy it as much as the original trilogy.

I think I would have ended it much more had it stayed two films.

I felt it was too long for a trilogy.

[Galadriel55]

This is what I decided. I enjoyed watching the film, but I don't like it. Ha!

[William Cloud Hicklin]

My feeling was that we got Peter Jackson unleashed- his self-indulgence on steroids, so that everything that was bad about the original trilogy was worse, and what was good about the first three there wasn't much of. In particular, I found TH to be suffed full of filler and padding, by the same clueless team of writers who gave us "Arwen is dying"- no understanding of what the book was about, but rather 3rd-rate fan-fic.

[elvet]

I enjoyed the movie - enough to see it 5 times in various formats. I always appreciated that the movies were never going to be exactly like the books. It's a different media and a different vision for how the story is presented. I love seeing favorite characters and places come to life, and I think that Peter Jackson has done a fantastic job with his sense for how middle-earth is portrayed. More than anything else he gets the 'feel' right. Hearing the first strains of Howard Shore's music or leafing through my book's title pages, I know I'm escaping to Middle-earth for the next few hours. Both connect me to Tolkien's world, and I'm grateful that I can enjoy that experience without being bogged down by the differences between the two.

[Lalwendë]

Enjoyed it. As for 'taking liberties' has anyone seen World Without End yet? They made complete mincemeat (minus horse ) out of Ken Follett's novel, but it was still an excellent piece of TV.

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by elvet

I love seeing favorite characters and places come to life

I can never quite understand it when people say that film bring characters and places to life, for me they come to life as I read the books. If I see a film adaptation I think " oh so that is how x sees it" rather than "oh so that is how it is" . So I still haven't seen it ...I am sure it would have the same effect on me as reading Liz Jones has on my sister.

[elvet]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

I can never quite understand it when people say that film bring characters and places to life, for me they come to life as I read the books. If I see a film adaptation I think " oh so that is how x sees it" rather than "oh so that is how it is" . So I still haven't seen it ...I am sure it would have the same effect on me as reading Liz Jones has on my sister.

Stories can come to life in many ways. When I read a book, my imaginations builds up the world and characters and I'm the narrator. This is a very subjective thing. Everybody's interpretation will be different. When I watch the movie, Peter Jackson tells me the story, in his POV, but it is close enough to the book to mirror many scenes that I had in my head. Sure, the negative is it's his vision, but the extras compensate. I don'y have a soundtrack in my version . I like sitting back and having the story unfold visually - having the central narrative, but being able to glimpse to the side and under a tree or at the horizon. I love watching the moments I remember from the book and filling in those hazy edges from my imagined Middle-earth.

[Mithalwen]

I suspect I don't respond particularly well to visual stimuli. I do tend to find most film adaptations dissapointing. Noteable exceptions being things like Picnic at Hanging Rock and the age of Innocence. That said most of the things I liked about the LOTR films were costumes and props. And I get the impression there isn't much new on that front but a lot of the things I found annoying. And I am not sure I want my mental Images tainted. But it is very hard to get people to understand why I don't want to see them.