[HPFGU-Movie] Re: The Reason Potter Films Will Never Be as Respectfully Done as LOTR

[Sherry Gomes]

LOTR went through several not so great movie adaptation, before Peter
Jackson came along.  There was a cartoon called the hobbit that wasn't bad,
if you were a kid.  There was a sequel to that, that picked up somewhere in
the middle of LOTR, so it wouldn't have made a bit of sense to anyone.  In
between those, there was a live action movie that covered the story in one
and a half books, left you hanging and never came back to finish the story.
By all accounts, it was not very well done, and nobody really liked it much.
I can't remember now, it's been so long since I've seen it.  By the time
Jackson decided to do the LOTR movies, he and all the crew were committed to
the idea of making it as true to the books and the spirit of Tolkien's
vision as possible, while still doing a job that was more practical for a
movie.  There were things I didn't like in the LOTR movies, because i've
read the books dozens of times, but they make sense from point of view of a
film.  Ok, not all of them make sense, but most do.  There wasn't the sense
that Jackson and the rest didn't know or care about the characters or story.
If you watch the DVD with the commentaries, you gain an incredible respect
for how hard they worked to bring middle earth to life and to stay true to
Tolkien.

Maybe, the HP movies started out as a way to cash in on the popularity of
the books, and all we who love the books wanted the movies, too.  it might
need to wait a decade or two to have some new director come up, someone who
loves the stories and who will make a series true to books and their world.
One thing is that we don't know the end yet, so I think, having an overall
picture might make a series of films better.

Sherry


-----Original Message-----
From: cgahnstrm [mailto:christin.gahnstrom at telia.com] 
Sent: Monday, August 09, 2004 2:44 AM
To: HPFGU-Movie at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [HPFGU-Movie] Re: The Reason Potter Films Will Never Be as
Respectfully Done as LOTR


>  Hey,
> 
>  I know no one's really comparing the two, but since they are both a
> series of films based on popular fantasy novels, let's shall we?
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
>  LOTR
> 
>  --- an obsessed filmmaker, writer, and producer who was an uber-fan
> of the books.
>  ---a tight-knit crew and actors who were also committed and
> respectful to the source material, like Christopher Lee, who was
> something of a scholar of Tolkien
>  --- source material that has beeen around long enough to have
> achieved legendary reknown.
>  ---Tolkien is now long gone and unable to have input on how the 
films
> were done (though I heard his family was none too happy).
> 
> End result: 
> Academy awards
> cross-over acceptance
> critcal acclaim
> and very few fandom quips except those nit-picking idiots who miss 
Tom
> Bombadill...
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
> 
>  Harry Potter
> 
>  --- a scriptwriter, while a friend of the author, writes in an
> extremely stilted manner
>  --- a succession of directors, of varying abilties and visions
>  --- books at the height of their popularity being rushed to
> production for that all-mighty dollar.
>  --- J.K.'s still alive and well, to give input and approval (this 
is
> both a good and bad thing to me) 
>  --- the books haven't even all been written yet 
> 
> End Result:
> the jury's still out since the films haven't been completed, but so 
far? 
> oodles of money has been made
> reviews have been mixed but getting successively better with each 
film
> the acting has been nowhere near the quality of that in LOTR
> but they are just kids...
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>  
>  I'm sure more could be added...Have at it if you will. :-)



lotr:
A dedicated cast that are very happy and proud to be a part of the 
films.

hp:
A cast that seems to either be in it for the money (Oldman) or for 
their children/grandchildren/nephew/neigbur's cat, pretty much for 
anyone but themselves. (The rest. Well, maybe not Thewlis.)




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