For those who loved (or even liked or mildly enjoyed) Peter Jackson’s LOTR movies: Has the clusterfuck that is his adaptation of The Hobbit ruined your enjoyment of the LOTR movie trilogy? Why or why not?
For me, nothing can take away the awesomeness of the Fellowship movie. As a lifelong LOTR book fan I approaching it with trepidation, considering boycotting. But then I saw it and became a fan of this view of Middle Earth. Even the major flaws in The Two Towers and Return of the King couldn’t take away from my enjoyment of the visuals, the score, the acting, the art design. I still love these films.
However, I sure have a lot less respect for Peter Jackson after the bloated, forgettable Hobbit movies (so far). This despite the best efforts of Martin Freeman and Ian McKellan, Andy Serkis and some of the other cast members. I didn’t hate the stupid addition of Tauriel or Legolas so much – it was the constant repetitious, overdone battle scenes; the terrible pacing, the loss of the charm of the original book. Of course I watched them (once) but don’t plan or owning or multiple rewatching as with LOTR films.
Your post is a spot-on, perfect description of my opinion as well.
I watched the Hobbit movies (once), but fast-forwarded through the unending battle scenes.
Even the eagerly-awaited Smaug scenes somehow didn’t do it for me, and I’m a Cumberbatch fan. I was looking forward to hearing his deep velvety voice and instead got a computer-enhanced recording which somehow seemed less sinister than the real thing.
Feh.
I suppose I’ll rent and watch the third one, but my finger will be over the fast-forward button the whole time.
I think the problem is that he set the bar so high with LOTR that it wasn’t really possible to live up to those expectations (similar to something George Lucas said just before The Phantom Menace opened, and for much the same reasons).
I still think it was terrific to let Orlando Bloom do another Pirates of the Caribbean movie. That was nice of them.
I saw each of the Lord of the Rings movies in theaters and was happy to receive the DVDs as a gift. I have watched them a few times at home.
When I heard that The Hobbit was being made into three movies, I was pretty sure that they would not be something I would enjoy. I have not seen them. Most of what I have read about them confirms my initial impression.
If I feel the urge to return to Middle Earth, I have the LotR DVDs.
I love the LotR movies, and nothing Jackson does or has done with The Hobbit will change that. But to say I have been disappointed by the new movies is an understatement.
The original movies transport me; The Hobbit movies annoy me.
I think the whole “Riddles In The Dark” scene in the first Hobbit movie was as well-done as anything in the LOTR movies. But it’s the only scene I can wholeheartedly praise.
They haven’t affected my appreciation of LOTR, except perhaps that I appreciate them more now. Fellowship remains one of my favorite movies.
Watching the Hobbit movies, it seems to me that Jackson is trying way too hard to hit exactly the same notes all over again, and they feel false and forced. By this, I mean things like Thorin Oakenshield echoing Aragorn, Kili and Fili trying to be Merry and Pippin, and lots of little scenes, shots and lines that look like they want to be in LOTR–only this is a different story. Wasn’t there supposed to be something about a hobbit in this one?
I did buy the DVDs of the first two movies, because there are a handful of scenes in each I do like and when it’s all done, I want to see if I can get a short movie out of the whole thing by judicious use of chapter skipping and FF.
I enjoy or not enjoy each film on their own merits. I’m certainly not going to like the Hobbit because I enjoyed RotK So it won’t go the other way either.
I loved the LOTR trilogy. I put it right along the original Star Wars trilogy. I was disappointed when I heard they were going to stretch The Hobbit out into three movies, when each book from LOTR was longer than The Hobbit was. Unfortunately, the movies have done nothing to quell my disappointment.
I’m hoping that once all three movies are out, someone cuts out the extraneous parts and makes a simple 2-3 hour edit of The Hobbit, because that is something I would add to my movie collection.
I agree with the OP: love the LotR movies, mildly enjoy the Hobbit movies, with reservations.
I saw all the LotR movies at least four times in the theater, and bought BOTH versions of all three DVDs. I saw the first Hobbit once in the theater, rented the DVD, and the second one I didn’t see at all until it came out on DVD.
But it in no way dimmed my appreciation for the LotR flicks. I still watch them a lot!
The Hobbit was read to us by our teacher in the 4th grade. It was my first exposure to Middle Earth stuff, and as such it has always held a very special place in my heart.
I’ve never grudged most of the changes* that Jackson made to LotR for the movies; I could see that there were difficult choices to be made and that they had to make the movies work in their own right. (And they still work on that level for me.)
But no such excuse exists for what he did to The Hobbit. The book was aimed at children; the movie should have that level of charm and no more danger or horror in it than a 10-year-old can stomach (which is still quite a lot, I imagine). More importantly, the movie should be able to stand alone, as the book does, and not be some horrible bloated prequel to a movie to which it only has the most tenuous connection. The ring is not that critical to The Hobbit, except that it gets Bilbo out of a couple of tight places. It doesn’t really function as a Great Ring of Power here, and it shouldn’t have that significance in the Hobbit movie. The Necromancer should remain a sideline figure and mention of him should only give the merest frisson of possible future danger. I’ve only seen part of the first movie, and maybe a small amount of the 2nd, and I was uniformly unimpressed and dismayed throughout. I wish someone else had done this movie, with the same technical skill but with a much better sense of the fitness of things. A good writer knows when to leave the viewer wanting more; what can we conclude when all we hear is “Less! Give us Less!”?
*Changes that are forgiven do not include the stupid Aragorn falls off a cliff and is saved by his trusty horse bit. Yeesh. Completely cringeworthy.
The second and third LOTR movies made me re-evaluate the first one. Now I dislike all of them, and knew the Hobbit films would be everything I dislike about the LOTR films turned up to 11. For that reason, I have not even watched the Hobbit films.
The worst part about the Hobbit movies, for me, is that there are flashes of brilliance and traces of real genuine love for the source material.
Unfortunately, that’s all overshadowed by the enormous piles of crap that got shoveled all over those flashes and traces.
When you watch the LOTR movies, you get a sense that finally, yes, here is a movie that has been made by a fan of Tolkien. Here is a movie for us. Here is a movie meant to be savored and appreciated by those who have spent years re-reading and loving the books.
And then he went and did The Hobbit films. A movie that seems to take that same group of nerds and laugh in its face. Oh, you enjoyed this book? Well prepare for THREE MOVIES of completely random nonsense with the occasional brief, beautiful scene that feels like it was ripped directly from its pages.
It’s heartbreaking, and while I’ll always enjoy the LOTR movies, I’ll never quite forgive Peter Jackson.
Can I answer if I loved Fellowship, liked Towers, and hated Return?
I have only seen the first Hobbit movie, and found it ludicrously bad. But not SURPRISINGLY bad. Return of the King and The Lovely Bones had together completely soured me on Jackson. But I’ve also decided that he’s not exactly a bad filmmaker; it’s more that his taste and mine are very divergent.
I’m not far from this. I think that Fellowship is, if anything, underrated. Superb movie. Towers was somewhat incoherent. I think that Return had a tougher task and came closer to the mark.
Overall, there is a consistent pattern, in my view. Where Jackson is adapting the written word, I’d call him full-on brilliant. I love his images, characterizations and pacing of the book events. That carries over to the LOTR deleted/extra scenes, as well. Where Jackson is interpolating, he is a disaster. ALL of his additions are poor at best, and horrible as often as not.
The Hobbit series is, unfortunately, almost entirely interpolation. And at the “horrible” side of the scale, as well. But the (precious few) bits that are actually from the books remain good!