October 10, 2002

I Can't Wait
Deb

...for "The Two Towers" as I'm sure it, too, will not only be visually stunning as was "The Fellowship" but exciting, thought-provoking and moving, like the first film. Yes, I thought it was wonderful. I'm a regular reader and re-reader of the Trilogy -- I first read The Hobbit when I was 12 and I've been reading the books ever since over and over again. I realized before the movie came out that some concessions would have to be made, given time and $$ constraints. For those who are fretting over changes and minutiae -- go back and re-read the books and know that whatever you picture in your own mind - THAT's the way Middle Earth and all its inhabitants REALLY are. And that's as it should be. I feel it's important for all of us to remember that this is, after all, a STORY... a work of fiction. A wonderfully soaring, inspiring tale certainly but, still, all imagination. To translate any work of individual imagination to the big screen has to be daunting -- to attempt to translate the imaginations of millions of individuals captured by Tolkein's wonderful work has to be a labor of love and I believe Peter Jackson undertook this task in just that spirit because, to me, it shone through in the movie. I watch the movie because I love the movie - as it stands, and on its own merit. Not as a scene-by-scene, word-for-word literal translation of the books, but as an enchanting, well-acted, well-directed film. And if watching the film turns another generation on to the absolute joy of reading - not just Tolkein, but any book - Peter Jackson has performed his labor of love well.