Beginning to remember that I used to like Tolkien
I watched the Fellowship of the Ring EE recently, for only the second time. I recalled that the Lothlorien section was less rushed, but I'd forgotten a lot of the other extra material, and so was surprised & pleased when the film proper opened with Bilbo's commentary. I enjoyed almost all the extra material, the only exceptions being the Gollum-behind-log glimpse, which looked as if they hadn't yet worked out how to do the cgi, & the longer cave troll fight, again in which the cgi was a bit distracting. All the extra character moments were great, though I wish they'd developed Gimli & Legolas' relationship still further. My favourite addition remains the fuller treatment of Lothlorien, which shows the golden Galadriel I recall from the books, and in particular Gimli's gift, one of my very favourite scenes from the book. Celeborn's not so bad with a little more of him, though sadly the same can't be said for Haldir.
I found my responses to the various changes to the plot &c were somewhat different from my first viewing. I'm one of the few who didn't like Elijah Wood in the role of Frodo; nothing against his acting particularly, but a 17/18 year old just isn't book-Frodo. The slower start did restore more of the feel of the book, but the time scale still felt too compressed. I didn't miss Bombadil, but the cut straight from the Ford to Bree felt far too quick with the longer running time. This time around I was resigned to the loss of Glorfindel, and so enjoyed Ranger-Arwen far more than I did the first time. I still like most of the changes to make the ending more emotional; Sean Bean isn't book-Boromir, but he does make excellent film material.
I've been wondering whether the trilogy might have worked better if the first film had ended with Gandalf's fall in Moria. My biggest gripe about the cinema cut of Fellowship is how they butcher the Lorien material because they're trying to build to an action climax, and my least favourite of the trilogy is The Two Towers (or, The Single Tower: We Couldn't Ae Arsed to Include the Second One), especially the cinema cut, and I wonder if it would have been better structured around two magical woods.
I found my responses to the various changes to the plot &c were somewhat different from my first viewing. I'm one of the few who didn't like Elijah Wood in the role of Frodo; nothing against his acting particularly, but a 17/18 year old just isn't book-Frodo. The slower start did restore more of the feel of the book, but the time scale still felt too compressed. I didn't miss Bombadil, but the cut straight from the Ford to Bree felt far too quick with the longer running time. This time around I was resigned to the loss of Glorfindel, and so enjoyed Ranger-Arwen far more than I did the first time. I still like most of the changes to make the ending more emotional; Sean Bean isn't book-Boromir, but he does make excellent film material.
I've been wondering whether the trilogy might have worked better if the first film had ended with Gandalf's fall in Moria. My biggest gripe about the cinema cut of Fellowship is how they butcher the Lorien material because they're trying to build to an action climax, and my least favourite of the trilogy is The Two Towers (or, The Single Tower: We Couldn't Ae Arsed to Include the Second One), especially the cinema cut, and I wonder if it would have been better structured around two magical woods.