Like fingernails on the chalk-board

Rating: 3/10 (8 August 2015)

When I heard that Peter Jackson was making "The Hobbit" into a movie I was very happy. My level of appreciation for Tolkien books is Fan, not Fanboy... so I thought that the minor changes he made in "Lord of the Rings" were quite acceptable. The acting, special effects, and story adaption were fantastic in "Lord of the Rings." When I heard he was going to make three films from "The Hobbit", my heart dropped. Jackson has filled his second trilogy with fluff and trash. He came nowhere near being true to the book with his story. He treated it more like an excuse to bring back all the old crew from "Lord of the Rings". The 5 armies in the book were Dwarfs, Humans, Elves, Goblins, and there is some disagreement on whether Wargs or Eagles are the fifth, as both are present. There are no Trolls, giant worms (stolen from "Dune"), or Orcs in the book. Nor are there Elf and Dwarf love stories. The book was an epic. The movie trilogy was a cash cow for Jackson. The acting was good, the special effects fair, the story was full of dross... like a 12 year old wrote it after reading the Cliff's notes and then filled it with things that he thought would make it cool... mistakenly. If you aren't a fan of Tolkien, this might be watchable... turn it on and switch off your mind so you can enjoy it. If you are a fan of Tolkien this movie will be like fingernails on the chalk-board for you.