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I'm not really a source purist, either. In Fellowship, for example, I had no beef with Arwen replacing Glorfindel or Tom Bombadil and the Barrow Downs being cut. But the films should be consistent.
Suffice it to say, Peter Jackson doesn't do so well when he strays far from the source material. He becomes more formulaic, more derivative, more profit-driven. Even the dialogue suffers: it "sounds" like Tolkien's writing, but just doesn't have the same spirit. Some of Gandalf's lines in the new films make him seem like a caricature of himself. Everything has to be declarative and revelatory. Where is the personality? Where is the inquisitiveness?
I guess I just feel like these films have become a cash grab. They follow the formula on the surface level, but ignore the actual words Tolkien wrote. I don't think it's a coincidence that Fellowship is far and away the best one of the series, and also bears the closest resemblance to Tolkien's book. But it was also made at a time of uncertainty: nobody knew it would be a huge success. Since then, the films have taken great pains to pander to blockbuster conventions: archetypal characters, predictable plot beats, contemporary jokes, an ever-growing extravaganza of CGI.
As it happens, I like Tauriel. I thought she fit in well in some respects. But the romance angle is really bizarre and the "penis size" gag in Desolation (in the jail scene) is totally off-base with what Tolkien's story is. It just takes you right out of the world the previous films have established. That's what bothers me most.
Suffice it to say, Peter Jackson doesn't do so well when he strays far from the source material. He becomes more formulaic, more derivative, more profit-driven. Even the dialogue suffers: it "sounds" like Tolkien's writing, but just doesn't have the same spirit. Some of Gandalf's lines in the new films make him seem like a caricature of himself. Everything has to be declarative and revelatory. Where is the personality? Where is the inquisitiveness?
I guess I just feel like these films have become a cash grab. They follow the formula on the surface level, but ignore the actual words Tolkien wrote. I don't think it's a coincidence that Fellowship is far and away the best one of the series, and also bears the closest resemblance to Tolkien's book. But it was also made at a time of uncertainty: nobody knew it would be a huge success. Since then, the films have taken great pains to pander to blockbuster conventions: archetypal characters, predictable plot beats, contemporary jokes, an ever-growing extravaganza of CGI.
As it happens, I like Tauriel. I thought she fit in well in some respects. But the romance angle is really bizarre and the "penis size" gag in Desolation (in the jail scene) is totally off-base with what Tolkien's story is. It just takes you right out of the world the previous films have established. That's what bothers me most.
