Del Toro's Hobbit

[Dilettante]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

I have always stated the gangrel, hyena-like beasts Jackson presented as wolves were asinine, and certainly not a logical extension of Tolkien's mythos and the influences he used. That Del Toro recognized the Norse aspects of Tolkien's book, his willingness to incorporate Tolkien's art into the visual style of the movie, and his obvious attention to detail regarding dragon symbology, implies to me that he had a far profounder grasp of the subject matter than Jackson, who dealt in superficialities: make the ugly uglier, make the weapons larger, make the battle more immense, strip subtlety and nobility from the characters, etc., and he continues to do so with formulaic Hollywood additions and tediously unnecessary character proliferations in the story.

Dumbed down and slicked up, like a drunken whore at a science fiction convention.

Well Put. The whole thing makes me wish Del Toro had been the director rather than Jackson. Peter Jackson seems to be more concerned with making a Hollywood-style "dumbed down and slicked up" epic rather than using the beautiful subtlety, symbolism, and art that Tolkien has left us with. JRRT left us enough material to work with for five lifetimes, it does not need to be added to or modernized.

Your mention of stripping subtlety and nobility from characters brings to mind both Frodo and Elrond, the two characters that probably most suffer. Frodo was very courageous in his own right "By Elbereth and Luthien the Fair,. ect." Jackson turned him into someone who runs away from danger and stands around and stares. And Elrond, Ah! See the thread where we discuss how Jackson stripped the wisdom, kindness, and nobility from the character and turned him into a bitter old man. Alas! I wonder if The Hobbit will fare as well.

As for the "wargs"...you mean the button-eyed hyena-lemmings? I'm not sure what those are supposed to be, but they are not wolves.