Okay, so what do you think NOW?

[Elladan and Elrohir]

For me, well, I'm suckered, I'm hooked, to use words from previous posts.

I get to have my cake and eat it, as far as the films go: My love for the books makes the movies seem that much richer and more glorious, and yet I still enjoy them as separate entities from Tolkien's masterpiece, unworthy of comparison with it in the end.

It's been said before, but I'll mention it again: Jackson brought Middle-earth to life. Is it Tolkien's Middle-earth? No, not really; it's Jackson's Middle-earth. Very similar in some areas, very different in a lot of others. But it is a vision that PJ has realized. He has not cut out a carbon copy of the Professor's work, nor has he gone too far (for the most part) in making Middle-earth his own.

I realize that last statement, at least, may face (and does face) vehement disagreement among some on this board. But that's my perspective.

Alatar continues to hope for a remake in 20 years. I'm divided. On the one hand, plot-wise and character-wise, I see a LOT of different ways the filmmakers could have approached it and made it something different, but perhaps far better. But on the other hand, the visual realization of Middle-earth is so strong that I don't know whether any director will ever dare to try to come up with a new one. PJ created, in my mind, the definitive Bag End, Dwarrowdelf, Helm's Deep, Minas Tirith, among many others. A new director would have to go in a radically different direction visually (and thus stray significantly from Tolkien in that regard, and perhaps lose the fans immediately) in order to be perceived as being original.

So yeah, now I pretty much see them as my favorite films of all time. Not that I've really seen very many, especially great ones.