Lord Of The Rings: Book VS. Movie

[Lord Chainsaw]

As a fantasy writer myself, I have a great deal of respect for what Tolkien did for the genre, my preference is the style that was born from Tolkein, as opposed to the other major style, which tends to be Harry Potterish.

This being said though, I am of the firm belief that there is a certain degree of balance between description and plot advancement that should be followed. Tolkien's style is far too much in the "description" area than is the plot advancement, his book moves, to use a fantasy geek analogy, at the speed of an entish conversation.

Anyways, I found myself unable to read through Tolkien's series, it was far too tediously overdescriptive in my opinion. I am, however a great fan of the books that came from it, and I enjoyed the movies a great deal as well, so I will have to go with the movie.

I don't think I could have said it better. Tolkien's ideas are great, but he just doesn't have a practical method of execution. I'm also a fantasy writer, and I respect Tolkien despite the fact that I don't like his works.

I base my writings more on ancient tales such as the Nibelungenlied and the many myths of the ancient Greeks rather than on his style, although that probably is where his style came from as well. In fact, it is believed that Tolkien got his ring idea from the Nibelungenlied. Or so I hear.

The movies were good. They weren't great, but they were good. There was a little too much fighting and not enough story in the second and third movies, but they were still much better than the books.

[Mr. Graves]

I read the books when I was twelve and I didn't mind the long descriptions at all. It game me a better sense of the world Tolkien intended on his readers to depict in their minds. The books had some parts that weren't strictly necessary (such as (SPOILER)the hobbits meeting Tom Bomadil, meeting Farmer Maggot, and going through the Barrow-Downs en route to Bree.) that the movie left out, which was a good thing even if I am rather purist when it comes to book-movie translations. What I didn't like was PJ doing little tweaks to the plot, such as (SPOILER)Faramir trying to take Frodo and Sam to Gondor, and Gullom framing Sam over the Lambas breadm thus making Frodo cast him away, but I could live with that. The Movies were awesome, but the books are timeless. Both are good in their own ways

[Gerbillcat]

When your adapting a book into a movie the main thing that you have to understand is that what works on paper doesn't always work well on film. Books have a core meaning to them and that is what is used or what should be used in the re-telling of them as a Motion Picture. Plotlines don't always stay the same but by the end of a book-to-movie adaptation you should come out knowing the meaning of that story even if you've gone a different route (in the movie than the book) to get their. And that's what The Lord of the Rings Trilogy did. It didn't always stay entirely true to the book but it told the same story that Tolkien first told over 30 or so odd years ago. And that's what counts, plus it didn't hurt that they were awesome movies in themselves.

[Bloodstone]

I've been an LOTR books fan years before the movies were made, so I am inclined to prefer the books.

By choosing, though, know that I understand people's views on how books are books and movies and movies, that they are different. Still, movies based on books are an attempt to tell the same story, on a different medium. Faced by a question on what my preference would be between the two choices, I am to interpret it as a choice as to which medium told the tale better or presented it better for the entertainment of me.

So I choose the books, for I have enjoyed them much more than I did the movies. Of course, i think the movies were great, and I suppose they will go on to be my all-time favorite films.

[Gerbillcat]

I suppose your right whether the film and book end up telling the same story doesn't matter in the end it comes down to the person and their preference over which medium they felt told it the best.