Elentári wrote:But then it would be The Hobbit, would it? That book has its own unique charm, which would be lost if the films just become LOTR-lite.
So we should want The Hobbit to be essentially a children's film? Because it was a book written for children....
That's true only to a certain extent. Yes, it was written primarily as a story for Tolkien's own children, but it really is not a children's story, per se. Tolkien did regret some of the condescending tone towards children that the narrator takes at certain places, and I think that aspect could easily be jettisoned with no adverse effect. But what
The Hobbit really is a quintessential fairy story, even more so than LOTR. And Tolkien took great pains to remind us in his lecture/essay
On Fairy Stories that it is a fallacy that fairy stories are for children.
The Hobbit is very good example of why that is true; it is full of subtle details that would be missed by most children.
So no, I don't want
The Hobbit films to be essentially children's films. But I do want them to capture the qualities that make the book such a quintessential fairy story, and I think the episodic nature of the book is a big part of that, because it keeps the focus on Bilbo and his development, as well as his relationship with the Dwarves, and Gandalf. I am afraid that if they try too hard to tie all of those episodes together with the larger geo-political issues then that focus will be lost, and it will no longer be
The Hobbit.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."