Terrible adaptation.

Rating: 1/10 (6 December 2005)

Many people justify Jackson's drivel by saying that "everyone interprets the books differently." Jackson, however, not only "adapted" Tolkien's story, but created his own. He removed Tolkien's dialogue and replaced it with hackneyed banter; he replaced scenes of drama and suspense with slapstick and hamboning. The majesty and dignity of characters such as Gimli, Aragorn, Sam, Frodo, Gollum and Theoden (almost all the characters, really) are reduced to snivelling, whimpering and slapstick jokes. Arwen, Elrond and Galadriel, the most noble characters in the series, are reduced to whimpering fools. The disrespect that Jackson shows for the characters makes clear the lack of interest he has in faithfully presenting Tolkien's work. Tolkien, after all, related to his characters so closely that he had their names engraved on his own tombstone. It is insulting to Tolkien's memory to deal with his characters with such irreverence, considering how much he cared about them. It's insulting to Tolkien's memory. While many dispute this, I find the movies to be amateurish, and the special effects are mediocre (considering the heights of computer generated effects that other studios have reached)despite the rave reviews it gets. Making a mediocre movie isn't really a sin in itself; making a bad movie and claiming that it has any relationship to Tolkien's work, however, is. Movie gets one star out of ten, but it's more deserving of zero. That people have read Tolkien's book and yet find any similarity or value in Jackson's movies baffles me. They are without merit, being poorly made and completely disrespectfully adapted from the books. Jackson has not merely spit on Tolkien's grave, he has forever tainted his legacy with his awful "interpretation" of his work.