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The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King (Widescreen Edition) Customer Reviews (34 - 36 of 70 Reviews)

its a different story
I finally saw the last flick in the Hollywood trilogy, and overall I'm very disappointed that the movie is not what Tolkien created. Sure, if they'd stayed true to the real story it would have been 6 part instead of 3 part, and it likely wouldn't have been the big smash. Cost more to make, earned less money and fame. Its the bottom line in all Hollywood renditions.
Why do I say this? Hollywood's formula is love, violence, and a simple plot geared for the majority. They sliced out huge swaths of story, added romance scenes that didn't exist, and focused the action on violence; including made up stuff, like the orc chasing Merry and Pippin thru Fangorn!
They made Merry a simple-minded twit, which he never was. They made Treebeard against attacking Isengard until he saw the ruin, which is exactly backwards. They had a big Moria fight with the cave troll, and it spearing Frodo, which never happened; Frodo stabbed the cave troll's foot at the start, and it ran. Pippin never proclaimed Frodo to be a Baggins in the Bree inn, either. Saruman never sent the storm against them in the mountains. Gandalf never fought Saruman for the Horselord in the Golden Hall. Arwen never saved Frodo riding to Rivendell; an elf-lord met them, but Frodo rode there on his own. The changes go on and on, big and small. Its not the same story.
The degree of violence is totally inverted from the book. The book has some violence - about 1 to 2% of it. The movie violence is around 75%, especially in the 2nd and 3rd volumes.
I'm disappointed that the movie maker spent so much time and money without creating a version that came close to the original. All that talent, all that money, all that graphic magic, and they gave us a different story. Ignoring all the cool graphics, it becomes just another violent action film. How sad.

Sorry about this....
This review is only to defend the film against those wonderful people who said that the idea was knicked off "Star Wars". You've provided me with entertainment, but I don't want to let you wallow in your ignorance. The film is based, albeit slightly losely, on a book which was written a fair while before the star wars films. Just so you know.......

Loved it. Now treat yourselves to the books.
I just want to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this trilogy and can't wait until the director's cut of this third one is out.

Of course, this is the filmmaker's take on the books, as all great films are. Movies are by necessity different from the books, and this doesn't bother me. Now that's a strange admission from someone who first read the Hobbit 32 years ago when she was 10 and the trilogy soon afterward and then re-read them all once every few years as a tribute to Tolkien's vision. Okay, so I'm a groupie. But I'm also an English major who loves all the classics. I grew up with books as my dearest friends. And I love movies, and I understand they are different things.

Oh, read the books. They are such a delight. Encourage your kids to read them.

At the heart of this trilogy is what was at the heart of the books for me as a child, the increasingly complicated and yet visceral relationship between Frodo and Sam. Sam is such a marvelous literary invention. How wonderful that he translates so well to film! And there is Gollum. No film could possibly do that creature justice, but these films come closer than I thought possible. And Frodo, who I once mistakenly railed against as too passive, emerges luminous, haunted and terribly brave.

These films are a loving tribute and tough also, doing just tribute to these many interesting and complex characters. I've never been much of a fantasy or sci fi fan, but Tolkien won me over, just as these films are winning over many who were initially reluctant to give them a chance. It still is hard for me to get into all the details of Middle Earth. But if you can slog through the minutia, there is so much in the films and especially the books to challenge and delight viewers and readers of all ages. The films are a bit easier to digest in that regard. Otherwise they would each be at least 10 hours long and full of very long speeches.

Okay, I have an especially sensitive seven-year-old. No way will I let him see these films, or he will be in our bed every night for a month. We'll wait a few years for that. He already wants me to kill every spider he sees. Can't imagine what he would make of Shelob. Maybe I can get him to read the books first. Oh, I doubt it. But a mom can try.

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