The overall feeling...

[Theron Bugtussle]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>...do you think PJ...did justice to Tolkien's work?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Based on the caveat that this is "Peter Jackson's <I>The Lord of the Rings</I>, based on JRR Tolkien's novel of the same name," I think he did a great job. He told a wonderful story wonderfully. I think they may be the best trilogy of movies ever made. (Trilogy in the sense of needing three movies to tell a single story.)<P>Where PJ felt the need to "improve" Tolkien, I feel he did miserably in several large respects. And none of the points I take issue with have anything to do with cuts for the sake of the movie's duration. (I do not intend to detail my issues. That would be both off-topic of this thread on Overall Impressions, and repetitive of several other threads and many individuals' contributions there.)<P>Did PJ do justice to Tolkien's work? No. He told a different story in many respects using different characters. Where minor characters varied from Tolkien, I thought it was more within acceptable bounds of directorial privilege. Where major characters or major plotlines varied from Tolkien, I cannot think of a single instance where I thought Jackson was better. <P>I do not think that Jackson's intention was 'to do justice to Tolkien,' but to take a great story and 'improve' it. And if not for such a superb story and set of characters from Tolkien originally, he would have had little success.<P>Interestingly enough, this may be a huge shot in the arm for the already popular book by Tolkien, which can only be positive.