Yes the Hobbit is written in a different style then the LOTR, but Jackson did such a good job following the books in the LOTR's movies it was disappointing to see Jackson go his own way on "The Hobbit".
Am I The Only One Who Laments The Absence of The Scouring Of The Shire ?
The last section of LOTR.
That was such a MAJOR point of the story.
Moi
No, many appreciators (as opposed to deluded admirers) of Tolkien sorely missed the scouring of the shire, the end of Saruman, and the unexpected rehabilitation of Lobelia Sacksville-Baggins, viewing them as essential, which was of course Tolkien's view. He stated that that part of the story was anticipated at the very beginning, and in fact much of the almost labored journey through the Shire to Farmer Cotton's and Buckland to sneak through the Old Forest when the road to Bree is a more direct route is motivated to show what the Shire is like so that the destruction and degradation of the environment at the end can be more clearly envisioned. Jackson also found the confrontation between Gandalf and Saruman at Orthanc a distraction and deleted the Voice of Saruman, one of the most effective pieces of Tolkien's writing. Jackson mistakenly imagined that Frodo was the hero of the story and pared it down to Frodo's journey. At least he didn't try to write Sam out of the narrative.
Years ago when the first BABYLON 5 (two hour special movie titled THE GATHERING) was shown. I watched it and it seemed slow and I was bored. The scenes went on interminably and dragged the concept into sleep inducing stuff..
Several years later after the series took off and changed channels, the new network repeated the THE GATHERING. The show's creator J. Michael Stracynski and the directors added 14 minutes and recut the movie. The new and longer version was exciting and the action paced well.
So the pacing of a movie, be it filler or necessary story, is quite a delicate thing.
Take a chance on THE HOBBIT.
I already own it, have seen it, and know that it is the work of an inferior master, heavy-handed, clichéd, and totally lacking in the child-like charm of the original. Jackson even messed up the riddle game, getting the riddles out of order.
One thin spin-off children's book made into three overlong movies. I didn't like TLOTR either. But I did like Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles, and Braindead especially. Discovered them when I was a child myself. Loved the all the real special effects. Got me guessing and watching over and over. No CGI. Such a relief.
The directors cut, it will add another worthless 7.3 minutes that you must have for your collection, then when they have milked that for all its worth they will come out with the complete uncut adding another 15 minutes to it and you know you must get right down to the store and buy it again to see what you missed because you just must know and if you don't you will be shamed by those that did.
Oh, and that's not the end of it. Hobbit 2 will have similar releases, followed by Hobbit 3. And then once they've milked you for all that, they'll release at least two "Master Editions" containing versions of all six movies with yet more added screen time and 'features'. It wouldn't surprise me in the least to see the final versions of all six movies somehow come out in the area of 24 hours.
I was able to catch the ending of tHE HOBBIT which is a fight against lumpy gray villainous things high on a mountain and through an evergreen forest to a cliff. It's got the flaming pinecone hand grenades and the giant eagles and (I think) wolves.
It was exciting, sort of but I never read the book or know what's going on in that particular section of the movie.
I thought of TRISTAN AND ISOLDE without the music . Tristan and Isolde is a story about longing for love and where the music chronicles the torturous path of love where the great love is finally fulfilled in action and music in the Liebestod with those brilliant cascades of music reaching upwards to fulfilment in the final act.
I read the Hobbit 50 years ago give or take a couple years. What I remember is Bilbo climbing around a cave hiding from a dragon and finding a ring, hiding from Gollum, watching the first of three parts of the movie was like watching something for the first time, nothing looked even remotely like what I read so long ago but I have faith that Movie 2 will show some of the things I read.
