Reverse Gripes

[Lush]

Arwen in "FotR" (NOT "TTT," except for that bit of her mourning Aragorn far, far in the future, and not in "RofK" either) I'm a fan of Glorfindel, but juggling a zillion characters in a film, even in a very long film, would have been suicide for Peter Jackson - so he wisely (yes, wisely) has Arwen usurp that role. I love the way she appears to Frodo in the very beginning.

People have griped that Jackson was pandering to modernity, but I rather think that we needed to have more of the future wife of the future king in the foreground. Arwen's character does work subtly through Aragorn in the book - influencing his moods and songs and decisions while he keeps her hope alive, and sometimes this symbiosis comes together nicely, and sometimes it doesn't.

I also happen to think that the beginning of FotR (the book) tends to drag a little bit, so yes, an improvement there.

Finally - Frodo's age. Naturally, Tolkien couldn't have had him as some giggly teenager, and the reasons for that are pretty obvious. I also think that having someone as mature as he go on a perilous quest is a nice change, a respite from the fairy tale that makes you grow up the minute you hit puberty (which can be so unconvincing, really). But I feel that there is a dissonance between Frodo's actual age and the way he thinks and behaves in the book. I still see him as a pretty young and inexperienced fella - a young guy way older and wiser than Pippin, or, for that matter, Merry, but a young guy nonetheless.