Reaction to films based on levels of fannish-ness - LOTR

[lupinesque]

Al wrote:
 
> Now, we come to LOTR - Keith, I'm right in thinking you're quite a 
> big Tolkien fan, if I remember all those Sunday chats?  Therefore, I 
> kind of suspect that you went into LOTR expecting the same kind of 
> thing I expected when I went to see PS.  To me, PS had the potential 
> to completely ruin my carefully constructed mental canon - I suspect 
> LOTR might've seemed the same to you, hence your Not-As-Positive!
> Thoughts above.  <snip>
 
> Basically, my point is, when it comes to movies adapted from books, 
> will people who have read the books find that their opinions and 
> enjoyment levels of the movies are changed in any way?  I think it 
> may well be the case.  Would be interested to know what you all 
> think.

Hmm...well, anecdotes are no answer, but FWIW I loved the HP movie.  I 
think the main way it fell short of greatness was written into it from 
the book:  it's basically a foundational novel, top-notch in creating 
the wizarding world, not as interesting as 2-3-4 in terms of character 
and theme.  JMHO.  I didn't realize this until I tried to explain it 
to my dh last night (he has read PS but isn't an HP fan, and rated the 
movie, like the book, a fine kids' thing but nothing thrilling.  Yes, 
we are seeing a marital counselor about this problem <g>).  PS is my 
least favorite of the books, but only marginally; translated to film, 
though, the gap widens.  I think Columbus & Co. did a superb job of 
conveying the wonders of the wizarding world.  Well, fine.  That's 
basically what happens in PS.  The rest of the plot is cool, the 
book has great stuff about Lily and love and all that, but the 
character development, particularly Harry's, is largely laying the 
foundations for the much deeper stuff in the next three books.

To return to your point so that I don't have to slap myself on the 
wrist for posting this to OT-chatter instead of Movie:  knowledge of 
canon cuts both ways.  I think I got a lot more out of LOTR than 
someone who hasn't read the book, because I could fill in in my head 
all the character stuff which, as I just wrote at length, has been 
left out of the screenplay.  Its absence irritated me and knocked a 
couple of stars off my review, but those who haven't read the book 
aren't irritated--they're deprived of the experience completely.  So 
far, I wouldn't say that about the HP movies; I think that someone who 
only saw PS got the gist of what the book would have told them (with a 
few key omissions).

Amy