Keri’s Comments (group member since May 09, 2013)

Keri’s comments from the Tolkien's T.C.B.S group.

I was excited about this movie coming out for years before it finally did and couldn't wait to see it. Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed with the end result. I guess I just got bored. I felt there were far too many nods to LotR and would have preferred less "borrowing" of the LotR music. Also, it seemed that the movie was stretched out unnecessarily long so its length would match that of the LotR films. I hated the addition of Azog,the extreme silliness of Radagast and the Great Goblin and Saruman hinting that Radagast was using mushrooms to get high which was very out of place and out of character. I really disliked the misrepresentation of the history of the hatred between elves and dwarves. I realize that he couldn't tell the whole story of their animosity since it stems from The Sil but to portray it as coming about because Thranduil didn't like having to pay homage to a dwarven king was too much. As for the overall feel of the film, it just seemed to me like PJ couldn't make up his mind whether to go for a LotR approach or a Narnia approach and went back and forth between the two which in my opinion just didn't work.
The things I did like were the actors who I felt all did a superb job, especially Thorin. The scenery was breathtaking as always and the additions from the appendices were well incorporated. The wargs and pine tree scenes though changed a bit was action packed and done well as was the stone giants battle.
After seeing the preview for the next film I have more hope of liking it though I am sure the addition of Tauriel will drive me a bit crazy, but it looks like it will be good. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I am from the United States and read the books in English. I was introduced to LotR after Fellowship came out on dvd. Though I had never read The Hobbit until after LotR I was familiar with the story from the animated version when I was a kid.

I have The Hobbit on blu ray also, guess I didn't mention it above.

I have seen the animated LotR many, many years ago so I can't remember much about it other than I really didn't like it. I guess I couldn't get over Boromir in a skirt and horns. lol.

I own all the extended edition dvd's. I sold my theatrical editions because I prefer the extended. Planning on getting the extendeds on blu-ray as well but just haven't yet. Not exactly cheap. lol.

I have two of LotR, the 50th Anniversary and the Collector's Edition. I also have The Hobbit Collector's Edition.

I feel the opposite about Azog, he shouldn't have been there and his presence to me detracted from the story making it about him and his feud rather than about the dwarves journey home and Bilbo's adventure. I agree that the film is following the book pretty well though I wouldn't say identical as there were many additions and changes to what was presented in the book. I am not speaking of the additions of back story from the appendices to LotR but just what was in The Hobbit itself. To me it just didn't seem to grab like the first LotR film did and it seemed rather drawn out like he were trying to fill a specified time allotment. But that is just my opinion, to each his own. :)

If it weren't for the movies I may never have discovered Tolkien nor my love of reading. I was amazed at the first movie when I saw it and wanted to know more about this world so I read the paperbacks again and again and everything else I could find about Tolkien which awakened my love of reading. Though I now prefer the book, I still love the movies. I think Jackson did a great job and though I miss things and don't really care for some of the character and other changes he made,overall I think he did well with the time he had. I think he did a fabulous job with the scenery and sets. After all, can't go wrong with Alan Lee and John Howe. I also think the actor selections were perfect.
Unfortunately, I can't say the same for The Hobbit so far. I am hoping that the next two films will change my views on that but the first one just wasn't that good. It seemed as though he were trying too hard to make it like LotR instead of being its own thing. I can understand wanting the look to be the same but all the nods to LotR started to get annoying and taking music from important parts of the trilogy and throwing them in to lesser parts on TH was annoying as well. The silliness was over the top in parts as well. I know that TH was a children's book but once he decided to make the films like LotR in style the silliness should have been left behind.

I did the first quiz with the 6 levels and it was pretty fun. I got 97 correct and 14 wrong. Surprisingly most of the ones I got wrong were level 5, 6 wasn't as hard. I'll try the rest some other day. :D

D.J. wrote: "Keri wrote: "I have a rather large collection:
-Custom framed map of Middle-earth
-United Cutlery: Shards of Narsil, Anduril, -Legolas's knives, Aragorn's dagger
-Full size Sauron helmet
-14k gold..."

Pics as requested. :D I've had these on photobucket for a while so there are a few that aren't LotR.

http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Elber...

I have a rather large collection:
-Custom framed map of Middle-earth
-United Cutlery: Shards of Narsil, Anduril, -Legolas's knives, Aragorn's dagger
-Full size Sauron helmet
-14k gold One Ring
-8 large action figure gifts packs, including the fellowship and about 80+ smaller gift packs and individual action figures
-Bradford Exchange sword/plate sets, perpetual calendar and another 5 pieces plate set
-25 Hardcover books- Entire HoMe series, 2 Collector's editions of LotR and 1 of The Hobbit etc, etc.

I would still like to add more United Cutlery pieces to my collection but other than than I have stopped collecting. I didn't bother with The Hobbit action figures, just don't like them. The look and quality are poor compared to the Toybiz LotR figures.

Thanks for the invite. I am a huge Tolkien fan and have been since I first saw the Fellowship movie and am always looking for other Tolkien fans to discuss his works with. I am an avid reader of anything Tolkien and have read The Hobbit, LotR and the Sil many times and the rest only once so far. lol. I never had much luck learning the languages though I did some of the Sindarin lessons on councilofelrond.com for a few months but gave up, learning new languages just isn't my thing. But I stuck around the site and am still there 8 years later. :) Any other CoE members here?
I look forward to discussing with you all. :D