Who here enjoyed the movie?

[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.

[Guinevere]

Last week I went to see "An Unexpected Journey" for the second time, and to my own surprise, I quite enjoyed it - but only up to the break! In the second half of the movie after the break, it got worse and worse, so that unfortunately the unfavourable impression had stayed with me afterwards. I had quite forgotten the things I had enjoyed, especially after reading, and mostly agreeing with, all the negative reviews here on the Downs.
Both my sons, and the young friend in whose company I watched the movie the second time, have read the book, but about 10 years ago, so that they remembered the contents only vaguely. They all enjoyed the movie without reservations!

All in all, it was worth watching, but I won't see it a third time. (I went to see FotR 5 times in the cinema!!)

[alatar]

It was just too long for me. And, regardless of how I feel about it being 'true to its source' or not (Not! ), the film was too internally inconsistent to be great. Good maybe, but so are a lot of things.

I never got the feeling that Bilbo or the Dwarves changed, or grew, or that I cared about any of them.

In the extended edition of Peter Jackson's FotR, you get a liking for Boromir, a character I never much cared for in the Books. PJ humanized him and showed his struggle with the Ring's call. So, at the end of that movie (different from the book), I felt bad when (spoiler alert!) Boromir dies.

Had Thorin or Bilbo died (or had fallen off a cliff to show up later), I wouldn't have cared one wit.

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by alatar

So, at the end of that movie (different from the book), I felt bad when (spoiler alert!) Boromir dies.

How dare you post a spoiler! You have totally ruined the book and film for me now and also for the hundreds of users of this website!

[Kitanna]

Originally Posted by Guinevere

All in all, it was worth watching, but I won't see it a third time. (I went to see FotR 5 times in the cinema!!)

Ha, I saw FOTR a staggering 7 times in the theater I loved it so much.

I really wanted to like The Hobbit as much (not 7 times in the theater as much...), but I couldn't stand it. I enjoyed the opening. The chase scene with Radagast, the Goblin King, the Defiler with his gimp arm. They turned me off to the whole experience.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

I'm just rereading Fellowship now, and it's striking to what extent Boromir as Tolkien wrote him really is rather a pompous ***.