One has to appreciate the work that went into compiling all of these Videos. It's most likely the work of someone who absolutely adores
Tolkien. But on a personal note, I really dislike the use of AI since it's not any artist's or reader's interpretation of what Tolkien's Universe looks like but a very complex jigsaw puzzle by a computer based on other people's interpretations he stole and mindlessly put together. The result is always a filtered, pale and two-dimensional work of "art" in which every character looks somewhat the same: uncanny (see picture below). Watching any AI generated Video always makes me very uncomfortable, as there is absolutely no emotion within them, but only the rendering of a machine trying to emulate it.
Even if all the characters would fit Tolkien's descriptions of them on a surface level, stating that these failed efforts at emulating what is supposed to be a person, would be more faithful to Tolkien than a movie could ever be, is a bit more than an overstatement. I've seen more emotion and personality in Bilbos Look when the first
dwarf knocked on his door and he had to abandon his meal than the entirety of this "movie".
All of this isn't to say that none should enjoy Videos like this. How would one even stop people doing that? But praising complexity and truthfulness as a gold standard for a movie adaptation of Tolkien's Universe while relying on a tool that can't even display basic emotions, let alone complex interaction arising from them, is paradoxical. Setting some mystified truthfulness as the only (?) quality standard for a movie, in my opinion, isn't ideal. What I want from a movie and a book is to be entertained and immersed, but both of these art forms achieve that in different ways, which have to be accounted for in the way a story is told. A 100% truthful adaptation of a book is probably just as boring as reading a screenplay.
But apart from all of my criticism, thank you for sharing the channel and opening a discussion about it.
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I guess we will have to agree to disagree.
While I can appreciate the work of real actors, especially Christopher Lee, Ian McKellen and others. And I do think the LOTR trilogy was one of the best of all time, from a cinematic perspective, not as a Tolkien story. The
Hobbit IMO was an aberration,
Bilbo's acting aside.
The problem for me is, a movie like this need to have a humongous budget, and with that is when the studios start changing things for marketing purposes.
in the LOTR, the studio wanted Sean Connery as
Gandalf, he wasn't interested and then they recruited Liv Tyler. They wanted to give her a bigger role and that's how there were so many added scenes that are not in the books.
They keep saying that they couldn't fit all the book content in 3 3 hours movies, fine, I get that, but they added so many unnecessary and inconsistent scenes just for the sake of marketing and left out important plots.
The Silmarillion would be 100 times worse, first, it's more epic which needs more budget. Second, very few characters live enough (or soon enough) to have significant on screen time.
Fingolfin is dead after the
dagor bragollach,
Feanor at the beginning.
Beren and
Luthien have like one episode together,
Tuor, Idril,
Earendil and Elwing are only there at the end. You can see Peter Jackson desperate to generate more revenue from the rights they do have by making an irrelevant movie (The Hunt for
Gollum, give me a break). I would only trust someone like David Cameron because he is not only a great director, used to big budget hits but he also is known for giving the studios the middle finger.
Having said that, I do understand the studios need to make money, especially in big budget movies, I get it but the only way to get a true Tolkien story is like this, IMO.
A final note, and this is not a criticism of the actors but of the casting. I think many actors in LOTR just don't fit the image I got from Tolkien's books.
Aragorn, Gandalf,
Legolas, ok.
But honestly, I don't think Cate Blanchet fits
Galadriel very well, or Hugo Weaving as
Elrond. Not talking about their acting that was great, but they were too old. I know Elrond was like 7000 years old and Galadriel much older, but
elves don't age, they would look like in their 20s or 30s. I think Cate Blanchet was a bit too playful, not the image I have of Galadriel.
Gollum was great (*cough *cough CGI), still the actor doing the voice was great but please, don't even get me started with
Sauron as a giant eye ball.
A Japanese made anime on the other hand... I mean I'd want to make our RPs and fanfictions into animes at some point lol.
Not a fan of anime.
