Why The Hobbit being split into three isn’t all bad…

So you’re angry that The Hobbit is going to be three films?

I love Tolkien. Have done ever since I read The Hobbit as a child. There is something about his world that just completely draws me in as reader and left a huge effect on me to this day. As a teenager I read pretty much everything based in Middle Earth because I just couldn’t get enough of this other world filled with rich, vibrant, colourful imagery and the huge assortment of mythical characters.

I thought The Lord of the Ring’s films were absolutely fantastic, everything from the direction to casting was spot on. Their financial and critical success was completely deserved and even though a lot was changed/left out I feel that it was all for the benefit of the overall film experience (but more on that in a bit).

Since the announcement that The Hobbit will in fact be split in three, there has been quite a vocal negative response, but, I think Peter Jackson did such a good job with LOTR that we should all trust him to do the same with The Hobbit.

Yes, The Hobbit is a shorter book than any of the three books from LOTR, but, there is so much story and material that isn’t included in the book that it is by no means as big a stretch as people are making out. I mean the book doesn’t cover what actually happens in the battle of five armies, I’m sure they will cover thoroughly everything Gandalf gets up to when he disappears and on top of that there is also the appendices from LOTR which Jackson has always stated he’d love to use.

A lot of people complain about how much Jackson changed when adapting LOTR for film, but for me that didn’t matter. I judged the films on their own merits rather than constantly judging them up against the books chapter by chapter. A lot that works on the page just doesn’t translate to film, Peter Jackson as a film-maker realised this and (in my opinion of course) the films are all the better for it!

I don’t necessarily think that making The Hobbit as three films is a good thing, but there is potentially enough material to make three films and given the success of Jackson’s LOTR trilogy maybe we should give him the benefit of the doubt.

Just a thought…