January 20, 2003

Waiting for RotK
Prettylil

I waited all my life for LOTR to be a motion picture. Of course, I didn't know I'd been waiting until Jackson made it so... but oh, what a dream come true! I was near chomping at the bits to see FOTR, waited as patiently as possible (foaming at the mouth) to see TTT, and now I'm expected to contain myself and remained composed until ROTK? Right.

As a young teen, I lost myself in Tolkien's Middle Earth. It was my escape, my paradise - even at war time. 20 years ago (oh my goodness!) I read the trilogy 3 times. I passed the interest down to my children as well (also now teens). I was stunned and speechless, looking at a theater poster of FOTR; the river scene with the 2 kingly statues on either side. "Ohhh my ..." I whispered. My eldest completed my thought. "I saw that", he whispered, too. "I saw that in my mind. I saw THAT in my mind when I read it."

I'm sure I'm biased when I defend Jackson's LOTRs. I understand that it is just not possible to capture every single chapter, let alone, every single detail in film. But could someone else have topped what Jackson did? I think not. Come on! Jackson did a marvelous job. Superb. Splendid. His attention to detail blew me away!

Sure, there are some "discrepencies". Although I was not expecting to see Haldir lead the Elven army to Helm's Deep, I rather enjoyed and welcomed that poetic licensing. It didn't change or waver the mood or the direction of the plot. It enhanced it.

I was tickled to see what Jackson did with the Ents, and I am pleased. However, I think I was expecting something more eerie with the landscape of the Dead Marshes. I'm getting used to Liv as Arwen, an elf. But I still believe, even after seeing TTT, that Michelle Pfifer (sp?) would have made a more witchy but queenly Galadriel. Would anyone agree with me on that?

PS ... Was someone else slated to play Aragorn before Viggo? I'm not complaining. Just curious. Viggo was born to be Aragorn!