I didn’t like the story liberties taken with Merry and Pippin. The whole theme of the thing was friendship, and in the book, Merry, Pippin, Sam and Fatty conspired from the beginning to protect Frodo. They took that totally out of the movie, and I think it was poorer for it - making it seem just an accident the hobbits all went along.
The continual “slo-mo” scenes throughout the movie were too much, also. Having Arwen cast a “spell” over the river struck me as wrong also - there was no “witchiness” associated in the book with the fellowship.
The scene with Galadriel and the pool was off. In the book she is kind, and involved - she warns him not to touch the water. In the movie she’s like a malevolent zombie in that scene, just staring at Frodo while he’s struggling.
You know, it’s the small things that get you and make you say, I don’t know if they understood the character at all. Leaving things out to condense time is one thing. Having characters do something that just seems essentially wrong is what bothers me, like they lost some basic essence.
Oh, and Sauron - well, he’s just all wrong. I don’t know what I really expected, but what I got wasn’t it.
I agree. Being able to digest it for a few years, I’m really not happy with the movie in relation to the books. It’s good within itself but misses the essence of Tolkein.
Ironically some of the more subtle things it got right, especially the scenery, so it wasn’t a total waste. But the main characters were off.