Customer Reviews

Tolkien on Film: Essays on Peter Jackson's the Lord of the Rings.

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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This highly recommended title explores Tolkien's Lord of the Rings vs. Peter Jackson's film adaptation of it. The several essays chosen by the editors are all very convincing and well-researched. They're also immensely enjoyable to read for those who've read Tolkien and seen the film (or vice versa) and love to compare the two. The editors were also careful in presenting a balanced view, for both pros and cons are represented (sometimes even within the same essay.) And there are even some essays on Tolkienian fan-fiction (and slash) that's proliferated on the net. Truly an engrossing study of Tolkien's work and Jackson's successes and failures in adapting it! I hope a second volume is being considered...

I found this book enormously helpful in figuring out what I had seen and how the material had been adapted for the screen. The authors of this book have a deep knowledge of the Tolkien texts and they have also viewed the films and DVDs very carefully. The assessments are balanced, well informed, and not likely to be surpassed as a commentary on the transformation.

Fans of both the books and the films will enjoy these essays--the problems of depicting some of Tolkien's saga; the good and bad choices made as to how to tell the overall story; the baffling changes Jackson made. Those familiar with both books and movies will enjoy reading these well-argued essays, and those only familiar with the movies (quite a lot of people, these days) will perhaps appreciate how Tolkien constructed an entire world that's worth looking into via the novels. The movie fans will realize that there may be quite a lot they're missing by sticking with the movies alone...

I had fun with this, re-enjoying the trilogy of books and movies. The essays gave me new peerspectives to think about, and as a bonus I now have new sources of fan-fiction so I can revisit Middle Earth whenever I need to read a new story- or reread an old one.

Very interesting read, well written and witty. Recommend especially for people studying Lord of the Rings.