Book vs. Movie characters

[hobbit punk]

I agree that Faramir was just treated the worst out of all characters and I feel that Gimli was made out to be too much of a joke and not a great warrior. Frodo gets too sappy eyed too quickly in TTT and you feel like slapping him and telling him to snap out of it and stop being such a wuss. It didn't portray the ring taking power over him for me, I just found it argravating that he was so big eyed and helpless all the time. Theoden seemed too mean and Eowyn and Eomer were not developed enough. Especially Eomer. Merry, Pippin and Treebeard did not get any of the credit they deserved. Merry and Pippin are a lot less goofy at that point then portrayed in the film and I think that the non-book reading audience will find their "sudden" change in ROTK slightly confusing and implausible. And Treebeard did seem waaaay too simple for such an old and wise being. Gandalf and Aragorn were great, despite PJ trying to make Aragorn into the main hero of the story, and Grima was awesome and just how I pictured he would look and act. His scene with Eowyn was sad in many ways. I found Arwen's, Elrond's and Galadriel's scenes unecessary, especially Arwen's. She wasted screen time that could've been used on more important things i.e. Shelob and her scenes with Aragorn were more sappy than tragic. But what my point at the end of all this is, is the treatment of Gollum. I found book Gollum not cute. Not cuddly. Not funny. I felt that he was made a joke of in the film. His look was amazing but the audience saw him as a joke and not a serious threat to Frodo and Sam and the mission. People were made to think he was cute and to feel a bit too much pity for him. While he is tragic, I didn't feel as much pity for him in the books because he came off as a lot more evil. Also, in TTT the chapter where he is fighting between Smeagol and Gollum was SCARY! The movie TTT made it funny and a moment of comic relief almost. My point is, did anyone else notice this or feel this way?

[ July 30, 2003: Message edited by: hobbit punk ]