An entertaining movie, but not an entertaining adaptation

Rating: Null/10 (18 December 2003)

I have mixed feelings about this movie and the whole series. They are made so well and so often entertaining, but there are moments that make me cringe. Those moments are almost always when the movie makers diverge from the story. I suppose it is with the adaptation that I have complaints. They know how to make a movie as well as anyone, but they are not as good as writers as Tolkien, and they that show each time they change the story. As an adaptation, it is magnificent and flawed. How tantalizingly close they were to making it as perfect as imaginable. I understand that it is difficult to adapt certain parts, or that to fit time and budget, certain parts had to go. In short, I can accept leaving parts out. However, there are changes, major changes to the story and characters that make me sad and angry. Clearly, the makers wanted to tell a different story, to give their own views, to update the story to what they think will work best, but I don't agree with their decisions in this regard. Ironically, they changed what they loved, and in the process, they replaced subtlety with heavy handed clichés. In particular, I list these: the overall addition of low-brow comedy; the lessening of integrity and nobility of Gimli, Elrond and Faramir; the change in motivation and goals of Saruman (who is portrayed as a toady); the new, vacillating nature of the Aragorn; the promotion of Arwen to a major character; the altered love story involving her and Aragorn that is silly; well, I can go on. I found many points in the movie where what happens leaves questions and doubts, and when I go back and reread what happens in the book, those nagging details don't even come into question because the scenes in which they happen in the movie don't even happen in the book. There were script rewrites nearly everyday, and so I can see errors creeping in. In contrast, Tolkien spent a lifetime writing the story. It seems a no-brainer to decide which version to use.
Well, they are movies that worth watching. I will watch the extended edition of The Return of the King, as I have watched those versions of the previous movies. However, I doubt I will be watching them more than once. That is the flaw. A tiny tear started in the first movie that by the end has gone all the way through. Like a cool glass of water that has a nasty little floater in it, I can't bring myself to drink from it again.