[The Saucepan Man]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> And I don't like the way it has turned out. Seeing the movies wasn't worth it at all. They dissapointed me more than anything else.<P>I wish I had never seen the movies at all.<BR> <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>I couldn't disagree more. I consider the films to be great <B>adaptations</B> of Tolkien's works. I use the word "adaptations" because they have of course been adapted for the silver screen, and necessarily so given time constraints and the need to connect with audiences the majority of whom have not read the books (at least before they saw the films ).<P>Here is a quote from <B>HC Island</B> on another thread in this forum which sums up my view perfectly:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> I would argue that people that haven't read the books enjoy the movies for all the right reasons. They are not perpetually comparing apples to oranges and pretending that the film would be better if it were more true to the books. Books are books, films are films. For a basis of comparison you should be matching Jackson's films with other films, especially in the fantasy genre. Then you will be comparing apples to apples. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>If you are constantly judging the films against the books and worrying about the differences in the storyline and the characters, then you will be incapable of enjoying them. When I first heard of the films, I too naively hoped that they would stick closely to the books (accepting of course that much would need to be cut). And the character and story changes did concern me at first. In fact so much so that I had to go and see TTT twice at the cinema, something that I rarely do, because the changes (which were much more prevalent than in FotR) meant that I couldn't really concentrate on it the first time round. I enjoyed my second viewing far better. And the reason for that is that I concentrated less on the changes and more on enjoying it for what it is (in my opinion) - a fantastic film.<P>For me, the greatest strength of these films lies in their visualisation. The locations, costumes, characters and creatures looked just the way that I had imagined they would when I read the books, almost without exception (the Lemming-Hyenas spring to mind as an exception ), so the visualisation presented in the films does not spoil the books for me. Indeed, if anything, it enhances my enjoyment of the books (perhaps because I just have a poor imagination and need a little help ). And the fact that the story is different in the films and many of the characters are not (to varying degrees) the ones that I encounter in the books cannot spoil the books for me, because the original story and the original characters are still there when I pick up the books again. I can, to a degree, divorce the films from the books and enjoy them as films.<P>So no, I do not regret seeing the films. I am glad that I did, and I will no doubt watch them many times in the future. Of course, the films have their flaws. There are many things that annoy me - editing mistakes and changed storylines that just don't work for me (Aragorn's Warg-borne cliff-diving and the Nazgul at Osgiliath, for example). But they annoy me because they don't work for me in the context of the story portrayed in the films, not because they represent a departure from the story presented in the books. But overall I have greatly enjoyed the films, and will continue to do so.