[gregebowman]

Originally posted by geoschmo:
My favorite line was when Legolas brought down the giant elephant and all the soldiers riding it and drops to his feet next to Gimli, and Gimli says, "But that still only counts as one!"

I saw the movie Christmas day. It was very good as far as movies go, but I must say I left a bit unsatisfied. This one felt to me to be much the same as the second movie, only on a somewhat grander scale. Almost as if you could have watched part one and part three, and not noticed part two was missing if you hadn't read the books, which I haven't.

I had many questions about why some things happened the way they did, and stuff like that. I read the Hobbit a long time ago, but never the LOTR. I have decided to read them now and hope that it will help me understand what wasn't in the movies, but was hinted at. I reread the Hobbit over the weekend and have started on Fellowship now. It's hard to put down once you start, but I am sure I am not telling you all anything you don't already know.

If you read the Hobbit, then the LOTR trilogy, you'll notice there is a difference in the style in which they're written. The Hobbit was almost whimsical and childish, especially with all of the songs and poems in it. Then you read the trilogy, and it is much darker. Maybe that's why Jackson didn't film the Hobbit, although I would like to see a live-action Version of that. About half of the movie is from what wasn't shown in the second book; ie, when Frodo & company first enter Mordor, and what happened to Saruman after his tower was flooded. That's why the movie was longer than the other 2. All in all, though, this is the best fantasy movie(s) ever made, and I doubt we'll see any better for quite awhile. Sure, we may see some imitators trying to cash in on the LOTR whooplah, but just like the ones who tried to do that after Star WARs, most of them won't be worth watching.