Gee, Sir Peter Jackson, Did You Hate “The Hobbit” Source Material So Much That You Had To Change It Almost Entirely?

And Gandalf should have passed on this movie till they got the script right.

I hate to say that and to do this since I was so looking forward to the movie version of “The Hobbit.” It was a major letdown. I will try to do as few spoilers as possible but let's just say, DON'T READ THE BOOK BEFORE SEEING THE MOVIE! Please don't get me wrong, the casting, the cinematography and all that was great. The music was alright but it was basically recycled Lord of the Rings (LOTR) music. They could have tried a little more originality there. The biggest problem was in interpreting the book to the screen. It was the SCRIPT.

The basic story is the same, a Hobbit names Bilbo Baggins is requited to be a burglar (even though he has never stolen anything in his life) and help the wizard, Gandalf the Grey, and 13 dwarves regain their mountain home and treasure from the dragon, Smaug. Yes, they did take some source information from the Silmarillion since they wanted to expand it to three movies ($$$) and that is fine. But they also changed things that made little sense except maybe to dumb it down.

There are changes in character motivation, many extra action scenes, they even brought back an evil Orc character who is supposed to die because having enemies such as a dragon and goblins was not enough. They even had to make Bilbo much more of a hero than he is in that part of the book. It is like they did not even trust the original story. I would like to say overall it is “LOOSELY” based on The Hobbit and when they stayed loyal to the book, the movie was great. I had two examples which happen to be my favorite scenes in the book:

First is the Troll scene. A fine bit of comedy in the book, too subtle of comedy to the writers, as to what they turned it into. It was almost completely changed to add more needless action. And let me say, if 13 dwarves cannot take down at least one Troll, they will not regain the Lonely Mountain. At least they ended it the way it was supposed to but I was looking forward to a little ventriloquism by Gandalf.

The riddle scene with Gollum and Bilbo is my other favorite scene in the book. The beginning was not even close to the book (it was not even slightly dark and Bilbo is supposed to not even see the ring, just feel it and pick it up, you can see how they change it in the movie). But the actual riddle scene is done quite well, since they actually followed the book. Shocking how following the source material can improve on a movie.

I am just a mild fan girl, but made the mistake of actually reading the book again and then reading up to the part with Gollum a second time. Other fans could be quite upset. I have a friend who totally wanted one scene in “The Fellowship of the Ring” completely redone because he did not like how it was done. I read the scene and saw the movie and did not really see the problem.

I know there are some über fans out there that are already moaning about a “female elf” that has a more prominent role in the later movies. They also did that with LOTR for a love story. I can understand that, it is almost a requirement that there be a love story. Yes, in LOTR they added the scene where Frodo is “saved” by Arwen (so she could be introduced) when he should have been on the horse on his own and the elves and Gandalf all save him by creating a raging river. Frankly, the scene in the book is much better than the movie. So, I guess they had to have Lady Galadriel show up for the Hobbit (even though she is not in the book) I think that was to add some of her intense elf estrogen to even out the sausage factory. I hope my friend did not see “The Hobbit” or could take it for what it is: crappy fan fiction where the fan thinks they can improve upon the author.

Christopher Tolkien agrees. He said the book was “eviscerated” when made into this movie. And he was the son for whom J.R.R. Tolkien wrote these books. It is a shame really since they had such a wonderful source with a fine story. Tolkien created an entire world for these stories, it was a rich full world already, no “improvement” needed. The condensation of LOTR could be understood. They had a huge amount of material (1000 pages plus appendices) to condense into three movies. Now they have a 300 page book that they are expanding to three and could not even follow it well.

I don't think my hubby and and I are going to even bother with seeing the next two movies, except on DVD from Redbox. Why give them more money, it will just encourage them, and Peter Jackson's ego is already the size of Middle Earth. Although my irritation about this will probably have gone down by a year from now, and my curiosity will be up for how it is changed. DAMN YOU CURIOSITY!

Lastly, I do have a conspiracy theory from my hubby that makes sense in Hollywood today. He thinks they did so many changes so that there could be a reboot. MORE MONEY! As long as Peter Jackson is not involved. He has gone full on George Lucas.

But “The Hobbit” was a thumbs down. :( From sharocity.com

So sorry but that had to be said. I am not the greatest writer, but if you gave me millions of dollars to write the script, I think I would have had more respect for the story Tolkien created.

Happy Holidays everyone. Have a great new year as well and there are more blogs are coming in 2013!