I've never read LOTR. Will I like the movie(s)?

Cafe Society
1

Er, like the title says. I’m not a HUGE fantasy fan; I very much enjoyed the Narnia and Harry Potter books and movies, and enjoyed the first three books of the Pern series; a couple of Piers Anthony’s Incarnations of Immortality books before they started to bore the hell out of me with their repetition. And if the first, or perhaps I should say second, Star Wars trilogy (as in, so-called 4 - 6) counts as fantasy – some say it does – I love that too. Recently I stared reading the webcomic “Order of the Stick,” which is all kinds of awesome and does deal with fantasy tropes, although it’s RPG-based (in particular, Dungeons & Dragons).

I’ve been curious about the LOTR movies because they’re just such major hits and I feel somewhat left out of a cultural milestone. I don’t know who Aragorn or Gollum or Sauron are, well, though I know Gollum apparently uses a lot of “sses,” and I only know Frodo because Matthew Brock on NewsRadio wrote a song calling him a paranoid gnome. Which actually I’m pretty sure isn’t really true. He’s an elf, right?

Anyway. Since I’m not motivated enough to read the books, I figure giving the movie a go might be a good start. But is it? Is it one of those deals where you won’t enjoy it or know what’s going on without the foreknowledge of the book? Do you have to be a big fantasy fan to “get” it?

Are there any folks here who saw the film first before reading the book… or never read the book at all? What are your thoughts? Worth it?

2

Frodo is a Hobbit, or a halfling. In Tolkien’s works, Elves are not like the little creatures who help shoemakers. They’re tall willowy beautiful people.

Anyways, you should definitely enjoy the movies. They’re epic, in the truest sense of the word, so you have to sit in for the long haul if you really want to appreciate them properly. Don’t judge them by anything in the first hour you may think is silly.

3

Oh for pity’s sake, I’m an utter idiot. Of course he’s a hobbit! Who the hell doesn’t know that?? (I have “Order of the Stick” on my brain, and there are elfs there.)

God, that’s embarrassing.

Anyway, thank you for the recommendation! And the kind correction. :slight_smile:

4

Actually, if you’ve never mentioned read the books, then you won’t notice things that got left out. And popular opinion around here is that it was actually good to leave those parts out. And you’ll be able to understand everything just fine without ever having read the books.

5

I think if you enjoy fantasy you’ll enjoy these movies.

since LOTR is the foundation for most modern fantasy, and the films were well made.
Yeah, pretty much a cultural milestone. Watch em. Let us know what you think.
(and Frodo was a hero, though you can’t tell it by the films)

6

I read the books so long ago (late 60s) that I didn’t remember all the details–or even if I actually finished reading all the books because, well, it’s a lot to read, you know?

So what happened to me as I saw the movies was that I remembered certain parts from the books. I especially remember the trees–oh yes, the trees. And the ending… as the ending was unfolding I thought that it was exactly as my imagination saw it when I read the books and they did it perfectly in the movie. Yet, if you asked me how any of it went before I saw the movies I couldn’t have told you. I read it just so long ago.

I now have a whole new set of LOTR in paperback and plan on re-reading it again. It will mean even more to me now that I’ve seen the movies.

Can you see the movies without having read the books and understand what is going on? Absolutely. Enjoy!!!:smiley:

7

No, no, Frodo is a hobbit. In Tolkien, the gnomes, or Noldoli, are elves.

No, really.

8

I was never a fan of fantasy, at least, that “kind” of fantasy. The night Fellowship of the Ring opened, I was standing in line because I liked Peter Jackson’s movies, and it was a new Peter Jackson movie. I had not seen any previews. I had not read any reviews. I had not seen any clips, and I had only glanced at a couple of stills. If anyone had quizzed me on LOTR while I was standing there, I might have been able to name the characters Gandalf, Frodo and maybe Bilbo, just from cultural osmosis, but I wouldn’t have been able to tell you who these people were, just that they all had something or other to do with a ring…they had to go find a ring or something for some reason? I mean, the title, you know, it followed. In other worlds, I was just about as ignorant of LOTR as you could possibly be.

The black screen of the opening made me focus, the whispering and opening words intrigued me. By the time the music kicked in I was hooked, and was figuratively on the edge of my seat every second until the end, not knowing what was going to happen next and being breathless with excitement and anticipation.

By the time I walked out of the theater, I was in awe, walking on air, perfectly willing to get in line for the next showing, if it hadn’t been sold out. After one viewing of Fellowship of the Ring, it entered my all-time Top 10 favorite films, and stayed there to this day. There was so much information to process that I still wasn’t quite sure who was who and what was what, but instead of letting that bother me, I went searching for information. Threads here and elsewhere helped me make sense of what I saw and who I saw, so by the time I saw it again a few days later, I knew the names of the characters, who Sauron was and who Saruman was (it was easy to get the names mixed up) and so on the next viewing I was better prepared to experience the film as a film and not as a visceral experience. It only got better and better each time, and I saw it several times in the theater.

I didn’t want to read the books because I didn’t want the movies spoiled for me, but I wanted the background so in the next few weeks I read The Hobbit, then I read Fellowship. Since the end of the Fellowship movie is actually the beginning of The Two Towers book, I started reading that, fully intending to stop when the end of the movie came. I couldn’t do it. I ended up reading it and Return of the King too.

So, I’m only one person’s opinion, but I went in knowing next to nothing and came out a huge fan. Your mileage may vary.
If you watch it at home I’d suggest watching it at night with the lights off, and no distractions. I can’t imagine seeing it for the first time on a TV set, but such is life.

9

IMO you will enjoy them more for not having read the books. Having read them and reread them there was no way that the movie could do justice to what was imagined in my brain. You have a clean slate.

But if you don’t enjoy a good fantasy, you still may not like them.

10

Someone else who hadn’t read the books but loved the films. Since then I tried to read the books and while they weren’t bad I did find them slow-going. I stopped somewhere at the beginning of the third book though I will definitely finish it at some point of time.

One tip: I would recommend you watch the extended versions because they do a better job of fleshing out some of the background which is especially useful for non-readers. The extended version DVD's have some truly superb extras as well.
11

The movies are essentially Star Wars as directed by David Lean. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t like them.

12

Hey, there’s a hobbit in the party in Order of the Stick too! (Wait, am I allowed to say that without getting sued by the Tolkien estate?)

Okay, enough jokes that you won’t get. My mother liked the movies and the only thing she knew about Tolkien was that he was a popular author for kids to read. The first film opens with about two minutes of infodumping before they throw you into giant fantasy battles and that’s enough for the big concepts to be grasped. If there’s one thing Jackson did well (and I think he did many things well) it was paring down the huge backstory to what could be told on film without boring most audiences to death.

And there is always the advantage you have that you won’t be nitpicking the changes forever.

One more thing: do not watch the extended editions. It’s not that they’re bad… it’s just that a lot of stuff that slows the movies down was added in more for fans of the books. If you like films then you may enjoy the extended editions but the extended versions are not the best way for someone coming into the experience new to see it.

13

I agree that the movies can be enjoyed without having read the books. Of course this is just a guess on my part, as I had read the books many times before the movies came out. I would also recommend the non-extended editions for a first-timer; what they add will only confuse you more.

If you do go and read the books afterward, you’ll discover a whole deeper and even more magical realm. Oh, and I envy you!..TRM

14

After repeated viewings of Peter Jackson’s Meet The Feebles, his LOTR was not what I expected.

15

I think you’ll like the movies better without having read the books.

16

Although I’m a big fan of The Lord of the Rings, book and films, I’ve never had much interest in other works of fantasy (by which I mean the stereotypical “elves, humans and dwarves in a pseudohistoric setting band together to defeat a common enemy.” I do like some science fiction, magical realism, and other types of fiction with fantastic elements). Or to put it more succinctly, no.

I also recommend the theatrical versions of the films. I thought only one or two of the extra scenes really added anything, and they weren’t worth the damage they did to the pacing of the films. On the other hand, they do have some great DVD extras, but those are only worth watching if you’ve already become a fan of the movies.

17

Wow, great answers, thank you! Though now I’m torn about which version to see – Equipose’s amazingly evocative “you are there” post suggests the extended, but others suggest that this might be overkill. I think I will try the non-extended; I can always watch that version later if I’m curious. (Well, I can always read the darn books if it comes to that! Not like I hate reading or anything…)

It’s actually worse than watching it on a TV – I’ll probably see it on my computer, because my TV isn’t widescreen and my PC monitor is.

Just Some Guy: If I know anything about Tolkein, it’s that his estate is strict and assiduous about defending its copyright so I think I got the joke. :slight_smile: Were you referring to V. or Belkar as the sorta-Hobbit? (I’ve never heard of ‘halflings’ before reading OOTS so I’m not really sure if it’s based on something else in, uh, “real life” fantasy.

In general I do prefer seeing movies before reading books they’re adapted from, because a) usually adaptations are disappointing in some way, and b) books usually widen the experience, whereas movies narrow it out of necessity due to omissions. I can only think of one movie that I preferred to a book, which was Gentlemen’s Agreement, although I’ve certainly found some extra moments in films that were improvements or at least interesting additions to the book’s story (such as Prisoner of Azkaban).

I don’t even remember having seen a Peter Jackson film. I tend to get him confused with Peter Weir. (One IMDB check later…) Oh! He did Heavenly Creatures?? Okay, I loved that film. Huh. Quite an upturn in his career in just a short period of time, though, from a quirky arthouse movie to some of the biggest films of all time.

18

I concur. I’d read the books dozens of times, and when I saw the movie, I couldn’t really enjoy them on a plot or character development level. Nope, it was all “wow, the Shire looks awesome, except for this niggly bit they didn’t nail”, and “Woot! They used one of the FOTR chapter titles in the dialog! Twice!”. Pure movie-as-seen-through-fanboy. I mean, I loved the movies, but I could never enjoy them as a regular movie-goer would.

19

I read the books as a kid and I only got about 1/3 of the way through the third book. There’s a great story in there and a well developed world but I found the whole experience tedious. The movies were great though, if you like fantasy (which I mostly don’t) I’m sure you’ll enjoy them, they’re fantastically well done and Jackson’s visuals more than live up to Tolkein’s endless descriptions of the Middle Earth landscape (which is what I found so dull).

Now you may well love the books too, I’m just saying that’s it’s possible to enjoy the movies even if you don’t. I was about twelve when I read them so I’m not offering a critical assessment, just my experience.

I’ve found that the best time to see a book-to-film adaptation is when I’ve read the book but after I’ve forgotten all the details. Next to this it’s before I’ve read the book; seeing the movie with the book fresh in my mind is distracting and usually frustrating.

20

If you’re using my experience, then yes, see the original theatrical cut, NOT the extended, because I saw the original theatrical cut and felt the way I did. I love the extended versions, but will never know what my experience would have been had I seen them first.

But then too, part of my experience came from seeing it for the first time on a huge, curved screen, sitting in the front row center, with a killer surround sound system heightening every sound and bit of music, so that certainly helped envelop me in the magic.