Still forming your own images of Middle-earth, or stuck with Elijah and co.?

Hmm, I'm going to go through the actors and actresses step by step in order of apearance.

Elijah/Frodo- He just was not right. I'm not sure how, but his only expressions were "the rock is going to eat me" (sorry, I've been spending too much tim around my overly spooky horse) and a look of absolute terror.

Sir Ian/Gandalf- This was exactly how I pictured Gandalf and I think Sir Ian McKellan did a very good job. Now if only he'd gotten the Dumbledore part...

Ian/Bilbo- He wasn't in the movie that much, so I can't really say.

Sean/Sam- He was the best of the hobbit actors, but that was just not how I pictured Sam Gamgee.

Billy/Pippin- He was really good. Pippin was just how I pictured him and he got the personality right too.

Merry- Don't shoot me, I forget the actor's name. He was good. He was every bit the responsible hobbit I thought him to be.

Viggo/Strider/Aragorn/Elessar- He was a perfect Aragorn. He was exactly how I pictured Aragorn and his personality fitted perfectly. He was quiet, and did not speak unless he had to. As I've heard, the real Viggo is the same personality as Aragorn. Quiet, kind, polite, helpful. And please not that I do NOT like Viggo.

Post more later.

[wilwarin538]

I saw FOTR and then I read all three books , so i already had a picture of what everybody looked like, but i did change my view of some characters, for example:

hugo/elrond:he is way too old looking, elves are supposed to stay young looking and not age but he looks aged

liv/arwen: I find she doesnt have the right look, she looks really pouty and has big lips, i dont want to be mean but i dont think shes pretty enough for that role.

billy/pippin: dont get me wrong I love him as pippin but in my mind I did make him a little younger and more vulnerble looking but hes still perfect for the movies

elijah/frodo: hes the complete opposite of pippin he was too imature looking like hes supposed to be 50 he didnt seem old enough for me

[Rinfanawen]

I have noticed that many of you have commented on the fact that Elijah looked too young for the role of Frodo, and he thus did not fit the part. I have to admit that I agree with this to a certain extent, but I only agree with the physical aspect of the point. You also have to look at the fact that Elijah showed a very mature Frodo, though young in the face. He played the part well in acting like an older Hobbit rather than a younger one. And after all, Hobbits live longer than mortal men. So who says that a 50 year old, or 33 year old when they started out, Hobbit could not look like a 20 year old human?

To further emphasize my point, I must tell a line ffrom both the movie and the books. In TTT, Aragorn mentions to the Riders of the Riddermark the following about Merry and Pippin:

"They would be small, only children to your eyes,..."

I would guess by this comment that it would not just be the hight that would make a grown Hobbit look like a child, but also the look of the face. However, in this scene the riders were riding through on horseback. So one might say that they were riding too fast too take a good look at their face. But then look at this from ROTK...

"I will not hide from you, Master Peregrin," said Beregond, "that to us you look almost as one of our children, a lad of nine summers or so;..."

Even though Pippin was indeed younger than Frodo, still 9 years is quite a ways seeing Pippin was 28, I believe when they set out from the Shire. Frodo might have looked 20 although he was indeed 33. That's just one person's opinion though.

[One of the Nine]

Well, either I'm a really sad case of a lack of imagination, or I'm just wierd, because whenever I try to get a mentle image of whatever I'm reading, I get a blurry somewhat half-picture of whatever I'm trying to put an image to. So, as soon as I saw the movies, the images kind of stuck. AND, since I didn't have a mentle image for anyone, nothing ever bothered me. No one's looks or if they looked to young or not. I'm just me, but I think PJ actually did OK with the cast. That's at least one thing good I can say to his name. I don't know. Maybe I got dropped to many times as a young child.

[The Saucepan Man]

I have noticed that many of you have commented on the fact that Elijah looked too young for the role of Frodo, and he thus did not fit the part. I have to admit that I agree with this to a certain extent, but I only agree with the physical aspect of the point.

Yes, Frodo was fifty when he set out from the Shire. But, courtesy of the Ring, he looked much younger. From The Shadow of the Past:

As time went on, people began to notice that Frodo also showed signs of good 'preservation': outwardly he retained the appearance of a robust and energetice hobbit just out of his tweens. 'Some folk have all the luck,' they said; but it was not until Frodo approached the usually more sober age of fifty that they began to think it queer.

So I see no reason to criticise the choice of Elijah on the basis of his youthful looks. Although, personally, I did think that he lacked the emotional maturity to portray a character of Frodo's age.