In celebration of finishing Lord of the Rings, I watched the first of the movies last night. It looked great but I found myself actually wishing for some of the pacing of the novel. There was very little character development — everyone was sort of an archetype of a character you’ve seen before: the noble ruffian, the childish innocents, the proud and rash man. And there was a real lack of natural-sounding dialogue between the characters. I understand the director had to convey a lot of information in a short time-frame, but I’d have liked more interaction between the fellows.

I didn’t pay any attention five years ago when the movies started coming out, but I wonder now what the LOTR-nerds really thought about them. As a reader, I’m always troubled when sensible things in books are changed in their filmed version. With the novel fresh in my mind, I kept having to translate what was happening on screen into its place in the novel.

I’m curious to see the next film just to find out how it holds up.