How close is Peter Jackson's visualisation of LotR to yours?

[Krug]

Was rereading Ebert's review of Fellowship of the Ring where he commented that the movie didn't fit with his own idea of the book. I was wondering how you visualised the book? Has the movie ruined your own idea of how LotR should be like?

For one, I thought the hobbits were all fatter.. and hairier.

 

[Dr Midnight]

I imagined Legolas being more willowy and less square-jawed.

I imagined the hobbits being pudgy. Despite the many tricks, I never believed the hobbits were as small as they were supposed to be.

Gandalf, Hobbiton, Moria, Rivendell, Lothlorien, Bree, the art direction, the Balrog, Gollum (what we've seen so far), the orcs... they were all perfect for me. Straight out of my imagination to the screen.

My biggest imagery complaint would be the color grading's greenish tinge in the shadows. Didn't like it in the Matrix, didn't like it in LotR.

The actor I liked least in their role would probably be Sean Astin. He can do earnest goodness well, but my imagining of Sam was different. Smaller, softer (not stocky), mousier.

 

[EricNoah]

Most things were right on, which was part of the whole reason it worked so well for me.

I never did have a very good picture of Elrond in my head but I'm pretty sure it wasn't Agent Smith from the Matrix.

Not entirely related, but the more I think about it the more I like the fact that the love story from the appendix has been worked into the movie more. It makes the passing of the elves even that much more sorrowful.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

It was hit or miss with me.

Aragorn - I imagined him as somewhat older-looking, or more rugged. Still, I think the casting of the part has grown on me.

Boromir - I liked the casting for this part. Sean Bean is very close to how I visualized Boromir, and played the part well.

the Hobbits - in general, the Hobbits look like how I think of them - essentially, small beings with human-adult proportions. The casting was so-so for the leads. Sam didn't look much at all like I visualized him, but Sean Astin actually seems to fit the part. Merry and Pippin look too interchangeable to me; I always visualized Merry as darker-haired and a bit larger than Pippin, and more mature-looking.

Gandalf - I'm astounded by how Ian McKellan made this part his own. His portrayal of Gandalf is spot-on to me.

Gimli - I think they could have simply let Rhys-Davies go without the prosthetics, because his real face looks a lot like how I pictured Gimli.

Legolas and the rest of the elves - I always pictured elves as supernaturally beautiful, men and women alike. The elves in the film just didn't seem as ethereal those in the book. I don't know how one could have achieved that anyway in a live-action film. I do like the casting of the role of Legolas, though, and I liked the performance.

Galadriel - Cate Blanchett is perfect for this role. Still, I didn't think she quite pulled off the authority and gravitas needed for the role.

Arwen - well, I'm not a Liv Tyler fan. I don't think much of her acting, and I visualized Arwen much differently.

Elrond - Interesting choice of actors. I think this casting choice worked.

Saruman - My visualization of him was always kind of a generic old-wizard type. Christopher Lee is now embedded in my mind as the perfect Saruman.

the Orcs - I always imagined them as more bestial, a lot like how they are shown in the Monster Manual. I think they worked well in the film, though.

Trolls - meh. I wasn't all that impessed with the troll. I imagined them a lot differently.

The Black Riders - Very good, except when Frodo sees them in the spirit world. I imagine them as gaunt, tortured, desperate-eyed men, once regal, with steely eyes and haggard (to use a word Tolkien used) faces. To be honest, I thought they looked kind of dumb in the film - in the spirit world, that is.

the Balrog - very good interpretation of the creature. Liked it a lot.

Overall, the film's landscapes and vistas, and the ruins and buildings, all gave Middle Earth a grandeur that came close to how I visualized them. Very nice. Moria was as vast and dark as I'd imagined.

Overall, pretty good.

 

[Ranger REG]

I imagined that Peter Jackson's adaption is what the late Tolkien would have done.

He once commented that the three books alone cannot be translated well into the big screen literally, and given a chance, he would have written a screenplay adaptation of LOTR. It is unfortunate he is not alive today. He would have loved the special effect generated by computers that would bring his fantasy world alive and in motion. But he'd settle for the readers' own imagination.

 

[Assenpfeffer]

Overall, amazingly close, though my mental image was different in a few cases (the Elvish armor, for example.) But everything important was right on target for FotR.

Now, in TTT, the wargs look a little different from how I pictured them, as does the armor of the Rohirrim - I always saw them as wearing lots of chain, while in the film they seem in half-plate. And Treebeard I pictured as a bit more humanoid.

But these are geek nitpicks, frankly. They will not affect my enjoyment of the film.

 

[Assenpfeffer]

In greater detail:

Hobbitton – I always imagined it as being a bit more well-manicured and with a few more trees than it had in the film. Still, the hobbit-holes are spot-on. Very minor.

Gandalf – Perfect. Inspired casting – Sean Connery would have sucked as Gandalf.

Frodo – Perfect. Elijah Wood looks like a hobbit without the feet or makeup.

Sam, Merry & Pippin – Not exactly how I pictured them, but close. Sam in particular has generally been played as more rustic than in the film, but this doesn’t bother me. Merry’s wig does, a little – all the other Hobbits look like they have real hair.

I never questioned the sizing effects on the hobbits, even though on close examination you can see matte lines in at least a couple of scenes. Very subtle costume effects were used to suggest their small size, and I think they really worked.

Bree – A bit darker than in my imagination, but only a bit. Same with the Pracing Pony specifically.

Aragorn – As someone’s already pointed out, they could have gotten someone older. But he’s certainly appropriately grungy. I think Viggo does a spectacular job in the role, except in one line – “You cannot wield it,” spoken at the Council of Elrond. His delivery of that line is whiney.

Saruman and Isengard – Couldn’t have been more perfect. Christopher Lee is a god.

Orcs – I actually picture orcs as looking like some old Partha minis I have – not much like the movie orcs at all. Still, not a big problem. Lurtz was pretty cool – I can’t wait to see Ugluk and Grishnakh, orcs with some actual dialogue.

Weathertop – The rock pinnacle itself is not how I imagined it, but the scene at the top looked exactly how it should have.

The Ford of Bruinen and the Flood – Matched my picture almost exactly.

The Council of Elrond – This is a funny bit. The physical setup of the Council is not how I imagined it. But after seeing the film I went back and read the chapter, and the movie is actually closer to fitting Tolkien’s description than my mental image of it was. It takes place basically on Elrond’s back porch – exactly as in the book. I do wish they would have had someone sitting in the background who we could have imagined to be Glorfindel.

Gimli – Perfect casting, again.

Legolas – At first Orlando Bloom appeared to have too wide a face, but actually the Elves of Mirkwood are described in the Hobbit as being “broad-faced.” Another example of the film sticking closer to Tolkien’s description than muy own imagination did.

Boromir – Again, closer to Tolkien than I’d imagined him. I’m afraid my mental image of Boromir was tainted by the Bakshi disgrace.

Caradhras – Close enough.

Moria – I pictured it as more heavily worked. The Moria of the films appeared to be half natural cavern, half dwarf stronghold. But the Hall of Records and Balin’s Tomb were perfect.

Lothlorien – A bit more extensively built up than I’d imagined it. Still, no problem.

Galadriel – More perfect casting. Cate Blanchett is better looking than the obvious choice at the time (Gwynneth Paltrow) and can act.

Celeborn – The theatrical release made him look and sound like a heroin addict. He gets actual lines in the expanded edition, and is much cooler (as is Galadriel, for that matter.)

The Argonath. Perfect. Again.

Amon Hen – The High Seat wasn’t high enough, but other than that everything looked like it should have.

 

[Henry]

I'm about to utter a heresy to Tolkien fans here - Peter Jackson's Vision DEFINES Lord of the Rings for me.

The book was as dry as stone to me the three times I tried to read it. The characters did not live for me through Tolkien's prose, and the language to describe hobbiton turned me off really before I could get through it. The farthest I ever made through the Fellowship was the Hobbits getting to Bree - and I put the book down because I couldn't take it.

The movies put together the ultimate fantasy experience on film for me. I understand it's not Tolkien's Trilogy, but it brings it to life and feeling in a way that Tolkien's book could not for me. For me, Elijah Wood defines Frodo in the way that mark Hamill defined Luke Skywalker for a generation of fans.

I'm sorry for the Tolkien-Blasphemy, but take this from someone totally turned off by Tolkien's works - the movie got me to at least attempt to read the books for the third and final time. That is saying something in and of itself about the movie.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Y'know, Bree and the Prancing Pony, as well as Barliman Butterbur (I assume that was him) looked very different, and had a much different mood, than what I envisioned when reading the books. The Prancing Pony in the film seemed too dark, too unfriendly, too unkempt and dirty. I always imagined it to be a bright, cheerful place, contrasting with the darkness that lay so near it. Plus, I always thought there were a lot more Hobbits running around.

 

[tmaaas]

I thought PJ did an incredible job with most of his casting, and likewise with his sets.

The only area where I think he really fell short was in his depiction of the elves. He did fine on the look, and incredible on their dwellings (Rivendell and Lothlorien), but he missed the "feel".

To capture the elves you have to capture a paradox: both agelessness and youth. Both joy and sadness. Both a deep knowledge and wisdom, yet a love of life. And that isn't easy to do.

I'm much happier now that I've got the extended version DVD. The gift-giving in Lothlorien really, really helped.

Too bad he butchered the "Galadriel refuses the ring" scene. I still cringe every time I see it.

But, even with what I said above, I'm still amazed at how much Peter Jackson got right. The movie's better adaptation that I'd ever thought I'd see.

Now just waiting for the Two Towers . . .

-- tmaaas