I remembered a book I enjoy yearly that was made into a movie. It was an animated movie, but it was a movie.
Long before Peter Jackson made the “Lord of the Rings” series, Rankin-Bass made “The Hobbit”. This was actually a decent handling of the book. This movie was designed as a family friendly TV movie. That is exactly what it was. There were a number of things that were different from the book, but what can you do in a 70 minute movie.
This little animated movie actually set the stage for the animated movie I wanted to talk about. Rumors were rampant about the quality of the animation for the “Lord of the Rings” in 1978. I think that is the only thing that made the movie interesting. A 132 minute movie trying to fit a trilogy the size of “The Lord of the Rings”. There was a lot of stuff left out in the 10+ hours of the Peter Jackson movies, how did they think they could do any of this justice.
Well, they didn’t. For me, the animation had some problems, mainly with the big battles. They didn’t look like they fit with the rest of the movie. Other than that, I don’t remember much about this. My problems were with the story adaptation. There were many things missing in the story (of course) and the way the characters were drawn and written, made me wonder if anyone read the book. There was no depth to any of the characters. No drive in the Hobbits. Gandalf just seemed like an angry aging wizard (standard issue). And other characters seemed flat.
Before Peter Jackson made his films I thought of getting this movie just for a collection. I’m glad I waited.
Forrest Gump was a book before it was a movie. I read it as a teen and remember laughing out loud constantly. I’m re-reading it now and it’s not as funny; actually kinda hokey… I don’t know if I’m going to bother reading the sequel or not. The movie is much different than the book and much better too. There’s also Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe that I read a long time ago and was thinking of trying again that was turned into a good movie… Can’t remember if the book was like the movie or not.
I remember having the Read-Along book and record of The Hobbit. For some reason I do not remember seeing the Rings cartoon… for good reason, apparently. There is going to be a live-action filming of the Hobbit (Guillermo del Toro directing). According to imdb, it is going to be done in 2 movies as is HP and the Deathly Hollows… weird
taylhis, I haven’t read the book nor have I watch the movie Forest Gump. I really have no desire to do either.
Jamiahsh — Hmmm Read along book of the Hobbit? I don’t think I saw that. I used to have a full version of the Hobbit with pictures from the cartoon, but it was not put together well and it fell apart.
Books to movies are always a tricky business. There is just so much going on in a typical book to be portrayed in a movie. I wonder how the Hobbit will do in two movies? Hmm.
I remember once reading about an author who blogged at his site how Hollywood had ruined his book- it was more like a different story altogether sharing only his title. Seems to me that authors should be given more input on movies based on their books. Some directors already allow the writer’s input of course, but many don’t.
If 150 minutes isn’t enough for a story, how about over 800 minutes? Terry Goodkind’s first book in a series of eleven, Wizard’s First Rule, is appearing as a TV series this fall. I am not sure which channel as both ABC and Disney are mentioned (yes I know, same company, but which channel will it be on?) but whatever it is I will be watching.
I really don’t see the need to make The Hobbit into two movies. I really think, after seeing the Lord of the Rings movies, that it could be made into a 2 to 2.5 hour movie. If they get really clever, I even think they could get it in under 2 hours. The book isn’t as deep as the Lord of the Rings, and since we have the first three out, you don’t need to introduce the kinds of characters you meet. That is what takes up most of that book anyway.
Let’s see
Tea party leave with Dwarves
Find Elves read map
Start Journey get captured by orcs, escape, find ring
Saved by eagles
Find Beorn
Travel through woods
fight spiders
meet wood elves
rescue from elves on to Lake Town
Find door and Dragon
Dragon dies
People, elves a siege of dwarves
Orcs come back, big fight
Eagles Come
Death and morning of Friends
Back in the Shire.
At around 10 minutes per scene above, it would be close to a two hour movie, some scenes could be done in less than 10 minutes, some would take more. But that is the book.