ROTK: The neverending story?

Rating: Null/10 (12 January 2004)

I grew up a Tolkien fan, discovering FOTR when I was 12 years old and having read and re-read the whole trilogy. I'm not a scholar on elvish languages or anything like that but Tolkien's books were the catalist for my lifelong reading habits. This is my disclaimer.
I saw ROTK the first weekend after release with my wife. We enjoyed much of the film, the oliphants were great, performances from the actors were solid, Jackson once again was largely true to the book and enthusiastic as hell about giving the audience large helpings of the wonders that are Middle Earth during the War of the Ring. Gandalf's charging rescue of Faramir's company from the Nazgul was a real standout moment.
I must be very frank however about our disappointment with the ending. We sat through an additional 20 minutes or more of film past the 3 hour mark that could have been done with a quick Kate Blanchett voice-over, some sunny shots of the Shire and some westward bound sails heading into the sunset.

Instead Jackson presented a long, tearful goodbye that would not end even though it was long past the dramatic ending of the film. With this much extra time, Jackson could have treated the audience to "The Scouring of the Shire" which is sadly skipped over in favor of a weepy Samwise Gamgee being paraded about for a BSA nomination. Much like the Tom Bombadil chapter lost from FOTR, it's a shame it did not make it in.
Overall, I did love the film version of the Trilogy. FOTR, by far the best written, is my personal favorite. I can understand and fully appriciate why some feel ROTK was the best, it did have a lot to offer visually and dramatically. However, as a movie going experience, the handling of the film's drawn out ending, a goodbye kiss to the Trilogies fan's I suppose, was overly indulgent on the film makers part and should have been shorn down to make a tighter fit with the dramatic end of the film UNLESS Jackson wanted to present "Scouring of the Shire" for audiences.
*Awaiting the the "Kate Blanchett voice-over ending" on a special edition DVD.*
CE