Do you think it's okay to add characters to the Hobbit?

1. 88

   Stevennix2001posted 7 years ago

   Well in recent news, Evangeline Lily, who claims to be a huge fan of the Hobbit when she was a child, has expressed concerns about how well purist fans will handle this latest adaptation of Tolkein's book series.  Although, she did go on record to say that she can see why new characters are added to the story to round it out, as there aren't any female characters in the original story, but she's still a bit timid about how fans will react to it.  Here's the link to find out more details:
   
   http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=82306
   
   Anyway, what are you're thoughts?  Do you think it's a good idea that Peter Jackson is adding characters to this story to round it out?  Or do you think it's probably best to stick more closer to the story, and NOT add female characters unnecessarily into the movie?  Please discuss.

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2. 81

   Hauntyposted 7 years ago

   I think it's a great idea to add female characters and I hope they will play an active role. However, they should not add characters like Galadriel just for the sake of it to have a scene or two where they appear in a dream to give some advice. That's totally unnecessary and I always disliked those scenes.

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3. 61

   optimus grimlockposted 7 years ago

   better to stay true to the movies and movies

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4. 68

   recommend1posted 7 years ago

   I was reasonably impressed at how the Lord of the Rings managed to steer fairly along Tolkeins story and the changes to the screen did not wreck the excellence of it.  It depends on how intrusive the new characters are - I suspect it will subtly change the story from Tolkeins brilliance to some writers mediocrity.

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5. 0

   Emile Rposted 7 years ago

   Who cares? I mean, a movie never does a book justice. If people don't want to read the book, then let movie directors do what they want to follow their ideas of enhancement to the story.
   
   I rolled my eyes at a few things in Lord of The Rings, but that's  a director's prerogative. My husband, never having read the trilogy, adored the movies.

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   1. 68

      recommend1posted 7 years agoin reply to this

      This is not strictly true, some movies are better than the book, Jurassic park to name an obvious one.
      
      It is not possible to follow most book plots in the medium of movie, the Director has loads of decisions to make his movie do something that does the same thing as the book, and which he is forced to do in a different way.
      
      What makes the movie good or bad depends on how well the Director does his job - changing the story line or whatever to appeal to current fashion or taste will of necessity change the story.  So in this case it may be a good movie but it will not be the Hobbit.

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6. 76

   Maddie Ruudposted 7 years ago

   It's true that there aren't any prominent female characters in the Hobbit.  But that's the way it was written.  It was a product of the time, place, and author.  Do we go around adding female characters to Shakespeare plays?  No.  We respect the work for what it was.  Directors can make modern adaptations of Shakespeare plays and do whatever they want (like "10 Things I Hate About You" or "O"), but my opinion is, if you're making a movie *of* something, stick to the plot.  If you're making a movie "inspired" by something, do whatever the heck you want.

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7. 70

   waynetposted 7 years ago

   Movies are a totally different medium to books and as such creative decisions are there to be made for the greater good of the movies, if there were no new surprises or anything creatively different between the two then would fans of the book feel refreshed by the movies?
   
   Comic book movies have taken certain liberties with the characters like Fantastic Four was just not that good, especially the sequel whilst some creative decisions worked for the best possible movie adaptations from the comic book source!

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