Post # 1
Member
2362 posts
Buzzing bee
- Wedding: September 2013 - B&B
I looove the Hobbit books and the Lord of the Rings books! And I thought the first Hobbit movie was pretty true to the book!
And I heard that the Desolation of Smaug was going to add a new character but I had no idea that it was ALSO going to change some of the story line/how things happened a bit, AND add a romance between an elf and a dwarf!
For the record… I always pictured the dwarves as all swarthy, short, stocky, HAIRY and bearded fellows. And I know this probably drives some people nuts but I am LOVING the fact that they made the Thorin, Fili, and Kili kind of.. well… attractive! I mean hey its the movie, why not add some eye candy haha.
There’s a part of me that scoffs at the love storyline between Kili and Tauriel, but there is another part of me, the cheesy romantic, that doesn’t even care its not in the book and I love it.
Anyone else feel like its so wrong to be attracted to the dwarf?! hahahaha. What do you all think?
Post # 3
Member
2851 posts
Sugar bee
@Sunnyday278: I handled all the changes just fine, but the one thing I rolled my eyes at was the love story. I feel like it is entirely unneccesary to force a romance into a story that does not already have one.
I think my favorite part was when Legolas called baby Gimli ugly (when he looked at the picture). lol
Post # 4
Member
9916 posts
Buzzing Beekeeper
I always thought the Hobbit was a boring book, so when I heard it was going to be made into a dozen movies I was thinking the movies were going to be SO BORING. So, the addition of all the background and Necromancer stuff is VERY welcomed!
Post # 5
Member
2512 posts
Sugar bee
I loved the original cartoon and the book. I don’t like it when movies don’t stay true to the source material, but I still very much enjoyed the movie and will happily see the next one.
I am rubbed the wrong way by what seems to be their motivation for making these changes, which would be to simply have enough material for a trilogy and to turn it into a cash cow.
Post # 6
Member
1882 posts
Buzzing bee
@Sunnyday278: I’m one of those nerds who sat through all the LOTR movies going “but X wasn’t in the book! OMG those jerks left out Y!” 🙂 So I was pretty freaking annoyed at the added “romance” storyline. But I generally don’t like and will not willingly watch any romantic films (my taste runs to action/horror) so I’m not your typical female moviegoer… I do understand they were trying to make it palatable to a broader audience.
Post # 7
Member
2362 posts
Buzzing bee
- Wedding: September 2013 - B&B
@pineapplez17: Oh I know… there is a part of me that rolls my eyes because to me, it does feel forced. Like the actor playing Kili is good lookin, lets bring back Legolas because Orlando Bloom brings in the fans, and lets also add another good looking elf and a LOVE story because EVERY movie needs a LOVE story! And yet…. I can’t hate it… because I’m a SUCKER just like they knew I would be! Me and enough others I guess lol.
@peachacid: I did like that a lot! That stuff, to me, fits in pretty well with the original book, its just like more in depth and a way to show what might have been happening behind the scenes, because they do say they knew back then the Necromancer was really Sauron coming back.
@MsW-to-MrsM: Oh yeah, it was definitely to try to make more money. Big fans of the book (mostly) will just feel like they HAVE to go see it, and then people who never read the books, well it will appeal to them anyway. I mean, even if all they did was bring Orlando Bloom’s Legolas back, that would have been a bigger draw! At least that makes sense, since they say in the LOTR books he is the woodland elf king’s son.
Post # 8
Member
2362 posts
Buzzing bee
- Wedding: September 2013 - B&B
@nightborn: I heard there was supposedly a LOT of anger about leaving out Tom Bombadil completely! ( I may have spelled that wrong, shame on me if so…). I didn’t mind the movies but it would be hard to touch the books, I think.
Post # 9
Member
9916 posts
Buzzing Beekeeper
@Sunnyday278: GOD Tom Bombadil is SO BORING. I was so glad they left that out of LOTR. Can you imagine what the non-Tolkien people would have thought if they saw Fellowship with that in it? Yeah the movies would NOT have been as popular at all.
Post # 10
Member
2851 posts
Sugar bee
@Sunnyday278: I decided that including Legolas was okay, because he is an elf from Mirkwood. It is entirely plausible that he was there as one of the random elves in The Hobbit and we just didn’t meet him. Obviously they did it for the $$ but I’ll let it slide.
Some of the changes were a little odd, but I actually enjoyed the fight scene while they were in the wine barrels. It totally didn’t happen in the book, but I thought it was a cool scene and I love the effortless fighting styles of the elves.
Post # 11
Member
2362 posts
Buzzing bee
- Wedding: September 2013 - B&B
@peachacid: Hahaha I admit I am still not 100% sure what to make of the whole Bombadil thing. Is it almost like he represents God? They make reference to him being there at the beginning of time, he will be there at the end of time, something like that. And Tolkien was a Christian writer, I believe…
@pineapplez17: yeah! At least they had them leaving in the barrels. I love a good heroine who sports a bow like a bad*** myself. (Obvious Hunger Games fan here.)
Post # 12
Member
1882 posts
Buzzing bee
@peachacid: many of us LOTR geeks don’t think anything in the books is boring and were a little disappointed at every little bit that was left out. 🙂 I do understand things had to be cut in order to make the films a commercial success though. My fiance has a more “normal” taste in movies (if a drama or a romcom is playing at our house, it’s a safe bet I didn’t choose it) and he can’t even make it 30 minutes into The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey without falling asleep. 🙂
Post # 13
Member
3668 posts
Sugar bee
@Sunnyday278: I enjoyed the movie for what it was, a movie.
I loved the books and never assumed the movie would stay true. I actually enjoy when they change things up and give their spin on a good story because it creates another good story!
Post # 14
Member
3551 posts
Sugar bee
I’m annoyed they’re stretching it out into 3 movies as the plot of the story didn’t go very far throughout the second movie. ie ‘we’re travelling to the mountain to get that one gem…we’re at the mountain we still don’t have what we came for’ The barrel scene was pretty awesome, and I don’t mind the romance bit, but a lot of the movie just felt like filler to me.
I think my biggest problem with them stretching out the series is that they delayed Sherlock for a whole year!! I’ll admit it I like Sherlock better than LOTR 😛