Did Mr. Jackson ever read the books?

Rating: 5/10 (2 February 2005)

Trying to be as objective as possible from the stand-point of one of the "purist", my humble question is: Did Mr. Jackson ever read the books? Or more importantly, did Ms. Walsh ever read the books? After all, is it not the responsibility of the true screen writer to condense and translate (while remaining true to the original works) the written word to a format suitable for filming? While no one can deny that the cinematography, graphics, special effects and even the casting (in most cases) deserves the highest praise. It is the loss of the true spirit of the literary work, that irks me most.
While I can forgive the omission of many key characters (the films would have been ten times longer), I can not forgive the changes made to what motivated the remaining characters; the blatant changes in events and the placement of characters; the addition of scenes and events that never happened in the book; and of who did what, when and especially why! For the "purists" I would not recommend these films, your will be utterly disappointed and dismayed. For those who don't care, or have never read the books -go -you'll have fun -enjoy!