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Personally, my thoughts are the guy just sounds like he likes to hear himself yammer. What is he, a psychologist?

He didn't like the movie and has to go on and on and on about it to the point that it's silly.

Yup. He sounds like the type of guy who has to moan and groan about everything. He probably complains to his local produce store that seedless watermelon aren't really seedless, instead of appreciating the fact that he doesn't have to spit out black pits with every bite.

Can you imagine the misery of watching any movie with tis guy???

Personally, my thoughts are the guy just sounds like he likes to hear himself yammer.

Well, to defend the article (even though I don't agree with it) its a very long essay in a magazine that features a lot of literary criticism. The author is an Anglican priest, and the point of the article is to dissect the differing spiritual messages of the books and the movie. I'll stop quoting from it after this, so I don't offend the PJ-bots! (wink, I'm one too...)

His concern is stated early in the article:

"I first heard The Lord of the Rings read by my father when I was five years old and have returned to it again and again... I found in it an unadulterated tribute to virtue - virtue in its many forms and guises... In my ongoing struggle up the path of Christian maturity, Tolkien's exposition has been my roadmap. This statement might scandalize some people; certainly I would never consider Tolkien a basis for doctrine. But his story shows truth and virtue in a way that the Church rarely does. His foray into the realm of Faerie has the power to inculcate in the reader a desire to be righteous and a vision of what righteousness looks like. I know, because it did that for me.

"I believe that Tolkien's work can be powerful pre-apologetic material... Thousands of pagans love The Lord of the Rings and don't know why it is worth loving. Thousands more will see the movies. A faithful rendition might have been a great force in bringing people to the Light.

"But instead of faithfully representing the spirit of the book, Jackson has reduced the story to a hack-and-slash "sword and sorcery" yarn on a par with Conan the Barbarian... The movies may even help to inoculate many people against the real value of the story."

OK, I don't agree with him. I am convinced that the movie IS a faithful rendition that IS a great force in bringing people to the Light. BUT, reading this I can certainly see why the man felt compelled to write his essay.

OK, sorry for stirring things up. We can talk about food again now. ;)