George Brizicky

I read the book within the past year and was excited when Netflix announced it had released the movie version. The book is excellent; well written with a beautiful story line and very vibrant and believable characters. Unfortunately, my excitement was short lived. Very quickly the movie departs from the book altering some essential characters and events. Although beautifully shot and beautifully acted, I can't watch any more. I had hoped to see the book brought to life, instead, I was presented with a similar substitute story.

I have been a Tolkien fan since childhood, and have read all of his writings, several times. The movies bear little resemblance to the source material, other than in name only. While some of the original stories are vague, the writers have filled in details and then changed others completely: the death of Celeborn (who appears in Lord of the Rings); the appearance of the Istari by falling from a star, rather than arriving by sea from Valinor; the premise for the forging of the rings of power; and mithril. Mithril although a rare and prized metal was not used for the salvation of the elves to prevent them from leaving Middle Earth for Valinor, but rather a highly sought after (and expensive) metal for the construction of light ultra-strong armor. So many problems, I could go on and on... Instead of the generally erudite and crisp language in JRR's works, much of this dialog was cloying dime store romance sentimentality. And what's with the rolling of the r-sounds? Morrrdorrr, it sounds chintzy and idiotic. Luckily it seems that movie people caught on part way through production and minimized it over the last few episodes. I'm not a huge fan of the Peter Jackson rendering of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings either, but by comparison to this, they are classics. If this sort of thing appeals to you, I suggest reading The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings; and then if you're still interested The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales. It's a far better investment of your time.