TOLKIEN: Master of Letters} Perfection in Prose / JACKSON: Master of Distortion} Narrative in Film

Rating: 3/10 (15 December 2012)

The sad thing is that long before they had even begun to work on Peter Jackson's new film 'THE HOBBIT' the presentations of the films representing the three volumes of JRR Tolkien's book 'LORD of the RINGS' had virtually amounted to tossing into a bag the exquisite story telling concepts of Tolkien (in the literary form) and the over blown "let's make a blockbuster film" distortions of Peter Jackson (in the celluloid form, shaking the bag vigorously and spilling out the contents. This, of course, must materialize in the sad reality that we SEEM to be left with MORE of that which is JACKSON, and LESS of that which is TOLKIEN (since JACKSON's FILM versions are notably rife with plot bloating additives, and TOLKIEN's versions are notably elegant, and expressed in the form of a consummate mastery expressed in narrative skill).
...That having been said, yet another beloved Tolkien classic - "THE HOBBIT" - has been wrested from the elegant prose of the inimitable TOLKIEN to the cinematic exaggeration of the all too predictable JACKSON. The fact that the movies are highly attended only proves that those who find the movies satisfactory are not at all acquainted with the books which by comparison to the films would leave a true Tolkien fan sadly disappointed in their movie-going experience.