I take it you didn't get to the bizarre Legolas/elf lady/hot dwarf love triangle part?
It was ridiculous as all hell. I'm just glad I'd decided not to reread the book before watching the movies, since I don't need a reminder of just HOW ridiculous they are...
I don't dare start on how much was wrong, for no real reason. I get that Legolas was there so teenage girls would go, but why in the name of Tolkien was Smaug the color of mud?
I am very glad that I did not buy a ticket for that mess.
I already hated the first movie - and after the Ring Trilogy I really had looked forward to it. Also, I liked the book, although I could never warm to the book LotR. But I hated the movie. It just didn't work for me: those dwarfs were unbearably rude, taking over his house, throwing his things around, and then he wants to set off and rescue their gold?
'Kick them out and stay safely in your cosy house!' I wanted to shout at him.
Only fun part was the fifty ways to prepare a troll.
I liked it, but then I'd long ago accepted that the films were going to vary wildly from the book. I've seen it described as 'Peter Jackson filming his own fanfiction' which is as accurate a description as any.
I could see liking it if one had not read the book. I feel that it is completely, vulgarly exploitive, and self-glorifying. Kind of like Jackson standing on a podium and proclaiming himself "King of the World", while masturbating.
I've read the book many times. I guess I just have a rather high tolerance for such things. I winced at every difference in the Lord of the Rings films but I'm a lot more easy going now.
They threw out all of the part with Gandalf tricking Beorn into inviting the dwarves piecemeal in favor of them charging into Beorn's house and slamming the door in Bear!Beorn's face.
I was SO looking forward to that part! And then PJ traded in a nice piece of character exposition (Gandalf is clever and understands people and is not above using their own foibles to trick them, plus it's funny) in favor of a big noisy chase scene with CGI monsters. At least it happened early, so I felt forewarned for the rest of the movie.
The conversation between John and Sherlock--oops, I mean Bilbo and Smaug--was terrific at the beginning, when they stuck close to Tolkien's words. Then it dragged on, and on, and became stupid and boring. You know, it's quite a trick to take a conversation between a hobbit and a dragon and make it BORING, but apparently nothing is beyond Jackson's abilities.
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It was ridiculous as all hell. I'm just glad I'd decided not to reread the book before watching the movies, since I don't need a reminder of just HOW ridiculous they are...
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I am very glad that I did not buy a ticket for that mess.
L
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'Kick them out and stay safely in your cosy house!' I wanted to shout at him.
Only fun part was the fifty ways to prepare a troll.
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L
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L
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I was SO looking forward to that part! And then PJ traded in a nice piece of character exposition (Gandalf is clever and understands people and is not above using their own foibles to trick them, plus it's funny) in favor of a big noisy chase scene with CGI monsters. At least it happened early, so I felt forewarned for the rest of the movie.
The conversation between John and Sherlock--oops, I mean Bilbo and Smaug--was terrific at the beginning, when they stuck close to Tolkien's words. Then it dragged on, and on, and became stupid and boring. You know, it's quite a trick to take a conversation between a hobbit and a dragon and make it BORING, but apparently nothing is beyond Jackson's abilities.
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