LOTR and The Silmarilion were the last books I read before I left home. I've been waiting 25 years to be able to enjoy these movies. I'm elated that both my kids enjoy them - particularly my youngest. She and I have watched the first movie about 5 times - this last time with the expanded and previously removed scenes. We're on eggshells waiting for the 18th. But we probably won't try to watch till a week or two after that. Wife is pissed that we don't just wait till it comes out on video - "think of the money you'd save!" She can't imagine anyone - let alone an adult - getting so worked up over a book, let alone a movie, let alone a movie based on a book of fantasy.
I hope this ushers in a new age of longer movies - we are willing to sit through 4 and 5 hours if you give us something worth watching. (I'd like to see a 4 or 5 hour movie of War and Peace, for example, with better selection from the book and a more realistic choice for Pierre than Henry Fonda.)
A big part of the reason we're into it is because the original story was so wonderful, so complete, so consistent (not perfect, but pretty good for such a grand story), so exciting, so intriguing. It's a great story. Also, Jackson made reasonable compromises with the original (so far), and made excellent casting decisions. The choice of Frodo was a bull's eye, imo, (both my daughters say he's the worst one, though). Saruman and Gandolf are also bull's eyes. Contrast this with HP where the actor doing the main character is a handsome boy, but he lacks any charisma, let alone any talent for acting. (Admittedly he's much better in the second than the first movie, but still he still needs work.) Another good thing is that computer animation is finally catching up with the artist's vision. Bad graphics really spoil the effect. He didn't just slap this thing together - he has some respect for the viewers, some empathy for those of us who have been waiting a lifetime to see vision on screen, and an obvious love for the stories himself. It ain't just about making money. This is one of the few movies I've seen on the big screen that I think was really worth the money I paid for it. I'd have paid a lot more, too, and still felt like I got a bargain.
k
