Would Gollum have been better unanimated?

[davem]

Originally Posted by Galendor

It isn't clear to me why Jackson chose to animate Gollumn. Was it necessary (I think not). Was it effective (I say no, animated Gollumn did not look or sound "real" like the other main characters). Perhaps Jackson created animated Gollumn for no better reason than an excuse to use expensive animation technology.

.

I think that was a major problem with the movies overall - Jackson put in a lot of unnecessary SFX simply because he could. Without the technology we would have had a much more intimate, 'personal' movie. Jackson strikes me as someone who would only talk to you at a normal level when he couldn't wheel up a massive PA system behind you on a flatbed truck & scream what he wanted to tell you at 50,000 decibels.

(btw, on the 'loincloth' thing - Tolkien never described Gollum as wearing a loincloth. In TH he's described as having pockets. I suspect the loincloth thing derives from Bakshi - unless anyone knows of earlier depictions on him dressed in that way (possibly Baynes??). Its always struck me as silly for him to be dressed in that way.)