May 14, 2002

Criticisms of FotR Movie
David

I think some of you may be going a little overboard with regards to your criticisms of character development, etc in Peter Jackson's film, suggesting that viewers new to Tolkien may not have understood what was going on. When I first saw FotR, I was a Tolkien virgin - I had never read the books, but was so blown away by the movie that I felt compelled to read them. As I write this, I have almost finished Return of the King. Even though I had never read the books before seeing the film, I had no problem following the story and developing an understanding of the characters. I thought Peter Jackson did an astounding job in condensing the story into its essence within the three hour running time. And having since read FotR, I am convinced that the film is one of the all time great adaptations of a novel.