Additions that didn't help ROTK

[Linaeve]

Since there's a thread for additions that helped ROTK, I figured that I'd start one for additions that <I>didn't</I> help. Don't get me wrong- I was fairly impressed with the movie and have no desire to pick it apart or anything. It's just that there were a couple of additions that REALLY irked me because I thought that they made the movie more Hollywood than necessary. Here's my list:<P>1) <B><I>The whole farewell sequence between Merry and Pippin before Gandalf takes Pippin off with him.</I></B> Yes, I realize that the friendship between Merry and Pippin runs deep, and that in the books Tolkien mentions how much they miss each other, but did we really have to have that sequence? It seems to me that it was just a contrived Hollywood tear jerker that really wasn't all that effective. It was painful to watch- I was squirming in my seat until it was over. I was more inclined to laugh than to cry.<P>2) <I><B>Denethor's eating scene.</B></I> I really don't understand why they had to focus so much on Denethor eating those tomatoes, or whatever they were. In my opinion, the scene really didn't add anything to movie beyond establishing the fact that Denethor's a creepy guy. Maybe it shows how Pippin's matured, but that could be shown through other ways, couldn't it? <P>3) <I><B>Arwen.</I></B> I'm a little annoyed because I feel that they involved her in ROTK though Tolkien hadn't, and they didn't even do anything with her in the end! To me, it was just like they were saying, "Here's Arwen- we haven't forgotten about her. Now on to the more important part of the story"<P>4) <I><B>Gimli</B></I>. I'm kind of undecided on this one. I thought that Gimli's humor helped in that it served as comic relief, but I think they crossed the line a little bit with him. It got to the point where I was sitting there going, "All right, say your funny line and let's get on with the story."<P>I can't wait for the extended version- I'm sure that'll shed more light on a lot of these things <p>[ 4:01 PM January 05, 2004: Message edited by: Linaeve ]