I loved the theatrical releases of the LotR movies and loved the extended versions even more. With these movies, Jackson took three major dramatic books (which were originally planned to just 1 or 2 massive books), stripped them down to the essentials and shot them with all the seriousness and majesty they deserved, turning out three wonderfully crafted films. When re-reading the books, I realized how slow-paced they were (Gandalf was gone for several months after Bilbo's party to figure out what the ring actually was, Frodo took several months to sell Bagend and to move to another town, etc., etc.). Jackson streamlined parts like that and added a wonderful sense of urgency and speed.
With the Hobbit movies, he took a fairly short and somewhat humorous fantasy novel aimed at children, combined it with trivia from the Silmarillion and other appendixes plus threw in a "forbidden dwarf/elf" love story and made three bloated dramatic movies that were bloated even more when he released the inevitable extended editions. While it was lovely to return to Middle Earth, this books should have been made into a single movie.
I'm waiting for the "prequel" series on Amazon to finish its release and will binge-watch it. I don't expect it will reach the majesty of the LotR films but I am hoping it is better than the Hobbit movies.
But hey, that's just my opinion. Your mileage may vary.
|