The Hobbit (the film trilogy)

Peter Jackson directed a film project to turn the book, The Hobbit, into a film.  (He also co-wrote and co-produced it.)  However, instead of one film, he turned it into 3 films:
1. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
2. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013), and
3. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)

Many criticize Jackson for turning a relatively simple children's fairy tale into a monstrosity of 3 films.  In addition, many also criticize any deviations he made from a story they love.

However, films always deviate from book derivations.  So filmmakers call them film adaptations - they adapt the book to the medium of film, which has different demands and calls for artistic interpretation when adapted.  Faithful readers of the book almost always complain about deviations from the text of the book, especially beloved all-time best selling books.

Next, The Hobbit appears as a simple children's fairy tale (or fantasy), but it has a much more rich depth to it.  Tolkien began writing the back story for it, The Silmarillion, in 1914, in a grand plan to write a background mythology for England.  The Hobbit was a small part of that great story, which wasn't published till after Tolkien's death in 1973.  (His son finally published it in 1977.)  Many who read The Hobbit have not read The Silmarillion.  Jackson incorporated aspects of The Silmarillion into the films.

Also, years after The Hobbit, Tolkien wrote the follow-up book, The Lord of the Rings, which became so long, he divided it into three books.  Originally, Tolkien wanted to finish The Silmarillion as the follow-up book, but his publisher insisted on more about hobbits.  Tolkien incorporated much of The Silmarillion into The Lord of the Rings.  In addition, he added lengthy appendices to the last book of the The Lord of the Rings, which helps to explain why it took over a decade between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins

Jackson (and his team) wanted to incorporate this great story background into the much smaller story of The Hobbit.  I applaud this attempt, which was largely successful.

However, since Jackson previously directed the three films which follow the three books of The Lord of the Rings, he also wanted to use The Hobbit films as a sort of prequel to those films.  I think he made a mistake by taking this effort further than he needed to in order to set it up as a good prequel.

You can follow the links above to see my thoughts on each of the films of The Hobbit.

The Lewis-Tolkien Friendship