Who here enjoyed the movie?

[William Cloud Hicklin]

I'm just rereading Fellowship now, and it's striking to what extent Boromir as Tolkien wrote him really is rather a pompous ***.

[Michael Murry]

I enjoyed the movie when it ended. Not so much before that.

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

I'm just rereading Fellowship now, and it's striking to what extent Boromir as Tolkien wrote him really is rather a pompous ***.

Bit off topic but that is something that comes across in the radio version ..I nearly got lynched by a diehard Boromir fan for this post in Microphones in Middle earth

http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showpos...&postcount=155

my follow up comment was : "It just struck me on listening to the tapes, which is what we are talking about that everything Boromir says is either pompous or negative, just what you want in a travelling companion."

[Rhod the Red]

I did. Even the parts inserted by PJ, like the White Council meeting, were joy to my eyes and ears.

[Tidesson]

I very much enjoyed "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey." Like "The Lord of the Rings," it is one of the few films which contain scenes that make me tear up.

I wouldn't agree with many die-hard book fans about the so-called liberties Peter Jackson took for the film version. I am well-versed in esoteric/occult themes in real life, and Jackson nails them in this film as well. That is to say, Tolkien employed many symbolic elements in the narrative and Jackson enlivens and expands them to a postmodern audience; themes which are timeless. The wisdom of the sages throughout antiquity. Gandalf, for myself, captures everything the sages exemplified in the film.

One of the great sayings of Gandalf in the film which epitomizes everything he is about is when he is speaking to Galadriel in Imladris: “Saruman believes that it is only great power that can hold evil in check. That is not what I have found. I have found that it is the small things, every day deeds from ordinary folk, that keeps the darkness at bay. Simple acts of kindness and love."

Gandalf is the great sage who lets everyone be who they are and steps in to show his power when it gets really serious. From Lao Tzu to the Buddha to Mithrandir. What really matters is compassion, and what stimulates a still mind is living with Nature, the simple life.

Anyway, there's more I could say, but, hello! interesting forum group here.

[alatar]

Hello Tidesson, Welcome to the Downs!

I liked the quote from Gandalf that you posted.

Can't say that I enjoyed the movie as much as you did. Tried watching it again while on a thousand-hour plane ride, but found uninteresting the second time around, so rewatched 'The Avengers' and the two Ironman movies instead. To me, it's just not entertaining enough. And as I've never been really excited about the Book, I'm not even interested in watching the movie to 'see what PJ got wrong.'

Completely forgettable.

[Sarumian]

I'd say I enjoyed the movie for reasons similar to others: I hadn't had high expectations but wanted to spent a bit longer time in Middle Earth For that purpose it is just ok, though I totally agree that some alterations were unnecessary and some scenes could have been dropped without any harm to the storyline.Noone it seems needed the fight with goblins and that sleigh pursuit before Rivendale, endless running in goblins' town and slicing the Great Goblin as a pack of ham could've been omitted. It also look very silly that Bilbo didn't make any use of his Ring challenging Azog for combat. Did he forgotten what saved his life just little time before?

I wonder as well how they are going to explain the way Gandalf obtained the map from Thrain II. Probably Gandalf will say he had met Thrain on the way to Moria and as everything was going suspiciously wrong, Thrain decided to handle it to Gandalf in order to pass it to Thorin.

I enjoyed Riddles and the White Council scene; I think the latter is quite appropriate in the LOTR prequel, as there appendixes are impossible in a movie (I still regret that Saruman's death did not make its way to the screen - a marvellous drama and so meaningful).

PS. Don't mind Radagast - Crazy Professor simply because in the books he is almost not given. Can we develop a different Radagast who wouldn't have been boring on screen?

[Boo Radley]

We just watched the DVD, and not having seen TH in the theatre, I was wondering if anyone had problems with the sound?
My wife and I both thought the music overpowered the dialog through the whole movie. Now, we don't have surround sound, but our stereo system is fairly good and we've never had problems with any other movies [i](with the exception of LOTR, but those DVDs allowed us to change the sound format, where TH didn't), so i was wondering if anyone else watching the DVD had problems hearing the dialog over the music.