"The attention to detail ... is unparalleled. Middle-earth feels real. But in these Hobbit movies, the more important thing to get right is situational realism: How the plot turns, what the characters do, if they move through space in a believable way. All this is thrown out the door. The sincerity of Thorin and Bilbo’s struggles is completely undermined by the story’s blanket disregard for physics, logic, and credibility. Gone into the ether is Tolkien’s gentle, thoughtful, and more plausible children’s tale." (LINK TO WIRED ARTICLE)
While I am not as irate than Gilsdorf - perhaps I am still under Jackson's unrivaled world-building spell - he certainly brings up some worrisome points. Has Jackson gone off the deep end? Has he damaged Tolkien's beloved childrens classic? Has he pillaged it and created his own disney-world phantasia version? If so, why? What was his purpose? Simple lack of constraint cannot explain it, as Gilsdorf asserts. It must be about the money. Beside lining his pockets, turning a one movie book into three nearly three-hour films allowed Jackson and Company the elbow room to get overly creative - to get carried away with their artistic license.
