LotR2-TTT-Seq05

[Farael]

Well Tuor, I beg to differ... I'm not sure Treebeard looks dumbed down. In this case, he seems (at least to me) as if he had too many things in his mind. He's not cracking up silly jokes, getting drunk and passing out or the like (see Gimli, again) but rather, he is more like an old man who has fallen behind in a rapidly changing world.

I do disagree with the whole issue of him not being aware that half of his forest had been torn down, but that'll come later.

[JennyHallu]

I didn't get the impression that he was unaware of the damages, but perhaps, and probably intentionally, unaware of the extent and the true danger of Saruman's deception. Or he hadn't been up in that direction in a while, and was reminded and saddened by what had been lost, and it strengthened his anger and resolve.

[Lathriel]

I like Treebeard and I like the way he looks. I don't see anything that is "dumbed down" about him. he might be slow but that is the nature of an ent since their time runs differently from ours, which I think the movie really got across. Especially,since they added that little segment about old entish in the EE.
I don't mind how Merry and Pippin meet Treabeard. Sure, it is different from the books but it works for me.

[Essex]

just a quick point.

I love the way you see the Hope come back into Aragorn's face as he begins to track the hobbits. Starting with his eyes, then his face changes from a grimace to a hopeful stare, then up on his feet stooping quickly up towards Fangorn.

Interspersed with the Action from the hobbits this is a Masterful scene.

I still can't handle the orcs with cockney accents. Just doesn't seem right to me (although did Tolkien have this idea?) - I know the Trolls from the Hobbit were east end characters - you can tell that from their written dialouge. But I don;t pick that up when reading the Orcs' dialogue in LOTR..............

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

I really liked the sadness of the Hunters. Good acting all round.

Good point, alatar, about how eager Treebeard is to smash the Orcs. Where did that desire go?

I don't particularly like having the Orc in the forest. It leads to those corny lines — 'He's gone', and whatever the Orc said. I'd have preferred it if the Hobbits had met Treebeard while they were at ease. Their pretty-much instant rapport with Treebeard in the book reflected their friendly personas very well.

[Elladan and Elrohir]

I think the Ents are good, but not spectacular. They look great, being something from the book that I always had a hard time picturing, but Treebeard talks a bit too slow for me. I picture him talking only slightly slower than a normal person in the books. And then of course they appear to be a bit dense. The whole Entmoot-and-immediately-following sequences don't make sense to me narrative-wise. Obviously, the storming of Isengard, which we won't get to for a while, is visually stunning. I love it.

[Boromir88]

Eomer, I know what you mean and that was a pretty sturdy orc...I mean to get speared in the back and get up from that in not that bad of a shape is pretty amazing. The Grishnakh chase into the forest was cheesy Hollywood.

I do agree with Essex and that these sequences work for me. I never minded Treebeard until he acted as if he had no clue of what was going on around him. (The burning of his forest comes to mind). But, I like this introductory to Treebeard and don't have a quarrel with it.

Also, Essex, not only Aragorn regaining his hope in the "chase" for the Hobbits, but the despair all three of them come across when they first arrive and think they are dead. A well done scene by everyone.

And a bit on accents, supposedly Jackson tried to get Billy Boyd to change his accent, but all of Billy's lines came out rather bad. Then he found out in The Hobbit the Took's invented golf, and Billy's Scottish accent worked fine.