Well...

[morganminstrel]

"So what did you think?"

Here we go. I just heard a discussion about the film on the radio where a caller pretty aptly summed things up: The book and the movie are different stories with characters with some different motivations. They should be looked at as two different entities, so to speak. That being said, I loved the movie. The acting was spectacular, the scenery and sets were just as Tolkien described them--with the notable exception of Lothlorien generally and Caras Galadon in particular--and it was a lot of fun.

Sure, I'm not happy that they kind of infantalized Merry and Pippin and took away their motivation to go to Rivendell. I'm not thrilled that they did away with most of the Council of Elrond (one of my favorite chapters in all of LotR) and removed the motivation for Gimli, Legolas and (especially!) Boromir. I'm not happy at how much Saruman was in the movie, and it already seems people are confused as to the difference between Sauron and Saruman. (I'm thinking this'll become more evident in the Two Towers.) I'm not *entirely* thrilled with the slight change in the ending. (Someone else on the radio pointed out that there is not one scene in the movie that really maps exactly to the book. Which is fine, see below.)

But!

My goodness, was the acting fine. My goodness, the direction was wonderful. The orcs were *scary!* The Uruk Hai were menacing! (I can't wait for Helm's Deep!) The Balrog...the Balrog....Oh, that scene was nice. *That* was a Maia of the Light confronting a Balrog of Morgoth! I really enjoyed it--especially the second half of the film, from Rivendell onwards, but I liked the first half too! I *loved* Bilbo's party! Ian McKellen (as always) rocks my world! Orlando Bloom was a wonderful Legolas. Sean Bean was better as Boromir than I ever could have hoped. John Rys-Davies, well, what else can you say about him? The hobbits were all great (I really like Billy Boyd), Sean Astin and Elijah Wood look like they really will be able to carry half of each of the other films off well. And Viggo Mortensen....well, he's too young. He's not as resolute as the book's Aragorn, but that has more to do with, I think, PJ's view of Aragorn's story arc. (His motivations have *definitely* changed.) But still--he was so close to being perfect!

So. Nothing will or could replace the books for me. (I will say that I very much disagree with the quote attributed to Nireena; No, an image is *not* worth a thousand of Tolkien's words, in my opinion. His language, his descriptions...nothing can better them for me.) The films are very much *seperate (though connected) works,* and as such, this first movie was damn fine. I plan on trying to see it again next week--my friend Ketina assures me that it's much better the second time around, because you already know what's changed, so you can just sit back and enjoy it.

So, a provisional WOO-HOO!! :-)

What'd you guys think? (I can't encourage everyone enough, by the way, to read/reread the first book and go see the movie again for an interesting perspective. Or, if you've read it recently, go see the movie again to watch the film, not imagine the book.)

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