Or no Hobbits at all...

[zxcvbn]

Originally Posted by Galin

Well, on the languages, Jackson chose much fabricated Neo-elvish over much of Tolkien's actual Elvish in the books.

Blame David Salo for that. Only a tiny minority of Tokien fans study Middle-earth linguistsics, and I doubt there is anyone on this forum who has enough knowledge
to distinguish between 'authentic' Sindarin and Salo's neo-Sindarin. I'm pretty sure Jackson also knows zip about Elvish, so he approached one of the most well-known Tolkien linguists out there, David Salo. Who, by the way, is respected and considered a credible source on Tolkien linguistics by MOST of the Tolkien fan community. It's only in hardcore linguistic circles, consisting of those who've studied Tolkien languages for years, that he's disliked for his inaccuracies.

Originally Posted by Galin

Disagree with this if you like, but to my mind Jackson didn't have to go to the Estate or anyone to represent Tolkien's Elvish, just the books basically (maybe to someone on pronunciation, though the books are quite handy there too).

The LOTR books only contain about two to three dozen Elvish words, all in all. To properly study Elvish you need someone who's spent years reading Tolkien's unpublished texts.

Originally Posted by Galin

In any case, what proof is there (I'm not saying there isn't any) of Jackson wanting to go to Christopher Tolkien, or anyone who is actually part of the Estate, for advice on languages, costumes, architecture, for a more accurate vision of Middle-earth? And how far was this going to go, even if true? And did it include advice on story too? proper emphasis on battles or monsters? important themes? advice on characters?

It would be logical. What else would they want? What proof is there that the filmmakers only wanted the Estate's official endorsement?

It seems to me that some people are going out of their way to 'prove' how Jackson intentionally 'bastardized' the books for profit.