Last night I watched Part Two of The Lord of the Rings. The movie had awesome scenery, but it was mostly what my sister calls "a groaner", meaning that I groaned through most of it.

How could anyone get so much wrong? To make matters worse, I read in World Magazine today: "Mr. Jackson took on the enormous task of translating J. R. R. Tolkien's beloved "Lord of the Rings" novels to the screen, and succeeded in large part due to an almost fanatical dedication to his source material." Fanatical dedication? To his source material? Gimme a break, guys! He doesn't appear to have even read the books! Or wait, I take that back--no one could have differed from the book in so many points without having read it. The apocryphal scene with Legolas surfing down the stone steps loosing arrows with the rapidity of a machine-gun topped even the one where he uses two swords like some plagiary of Qui-Gon Jinn in The Phantom Menace.

If it wasn't such a painful travesty, I'd laugh.

The question now is whether my interest in finishing the movie will outweigh my frustration at seeing it blatantly ignore the book, because no detail, however little, is beneath Mr. Jackson's attention. He cheerfully ruins them all. Maybe the real question is, am I a glutton for punishment? *scowl*