How good of a job do you all believe Peter Jackson did at portraying the appearances of the characters?

I believe that Jackson did a tremendous job on everybody, except the HOBBITS! What happened to frodo being 33 and chubby? The only hobbits done well were Samwise Gamgee and the Proudfoot father.

Feedback...?

I agree with most of which Loni said. The films were good as films and if there hadn't been any books to base them on they would have been really good but those of us who love the books see the changes and you just can't change Tolkien's writing as it was perfect.

But, i-aran, do you mean just the appearance as in make-up/costume/physical? If so then I have to say I liked Galadriel and the orcs, the balrog, Gandalf and Theoden and Gollum and Boromir, Aragorn and Eomer. I didn't like Arwen (either appearance or character) or Frodo, Eowyn or Faramir.

The detail given to the various races was phenomenal - the armour, weapons, wall hangings, halls, costumes - all fantastic.

I agree with the notion that its hard for Tolkien lovers to step away from the books sometimes and give a totally unbiased look at the movie. That's not a bad thing, rather we (at least me) have spent all those years reading Tolkien's work and picturing the characters in our own mind. When we see someone else's interpretation, its natural to say 'that's not what I pictured.' For me the elves were not quite what I had always pictured in my mind. I felt the movie made them seem rather effiminate, and I had always pictured them as not only being cultured individuals but skilled warriors. More edgy and mysterious perhaps. I also pictured Frodo being mid-30's. But all that's probably nit-picking. I really love the movies and hope someone will attempt to make The Hobbit.

WEll, that's a good point, Grondy. But I still think he could've changed it a little less. Especially Faramir and Denethor. He put them in a worse light than Tolkien. The rest of them were pretty good, but I really ddn't like Frodo. It was good showing the Ring taking control, but you can have too much of a good thing.

(i think If I had watched the movies first, I probably would've had a completely different opinion.)

Yup, agreed with V.

When we read something we build a picture in our imagination of what the characters looks like. Often this picture is totally different to how others imagine those characters, and often quite different too to how they are actually described in the text. It is the same here on this site. How many of you have a picture in your head of what another member looks like, only to be really surprised when you do finally see a picture? Visual pictures are very strong, however. Have you noticed how you can carry a picture around in your mind for years unchanged, but once a real picture comes along, that original image is driven away and banished?

For years I had carried around pictures in my mind of what the LotR characters should look like. I was nervous when I went to see the film that these images would be shattered and driven away, but what I found really surprised me. Instead of these total differences I was expecting, I was amazed just how similar many of the characters looked to how I had always imagined them to be. Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli, Frodo, Sam and many others were just as I had expected them to be. The places too, appeared familiar.

I think JR's piece of genius here was to employ John Howe and Alan Lee. Those images I had prior to seeing the films were not really my own original memories but the ones which had slowly replaced them over the years after seeing Middle Earth artwork on calanders etc. The images I carried of the above characters were not my own, but ones drawn by JH and AL years before. By getting those two artists involved in the sets and costumes, PJ was able to create scenes and characters that were already familiar to his audiences.

I ask myself what happened to Faramir? He looked nothing like I had imagined, but thinking about it, I have never seen a JH or AL portrait of Faramir. My image of him, which the film version has so rudely driven away, was my original pure one developed from reading the book.

RIP Faramir.

by me the characters in the movie best portraied are the horse lords, and the ishtary.

What? PJ sang "In the End"?? OMG

I agree with V and Loni on most of the things. I am suprised that Virumor didnt shout out already that this is all blasphemous and that the movies suck!! No no. Only kiding. But i do know how Vir likes the movies. Not at all.
I thing they are great. You try making them better, The work, effort and fantasy put into it is tremendous!!! I think they did a great job.

Give me the money then.

There are definitely parts where I can see why PJ made changes if only for impact and wow factor but there are other parts which he messed up - need I say Faramir again? And the Army of the Dead - too over the top. And Eowyn and Theoden when he died... I think all those bits would have been better if they were true to the book.

Well, I certainly loved the book more than the movies, but that is all about myself being an "epic" person, and the movies simply have more of the action element. Still, like many, I was angry with PJ on the subject of Faramir whom I absolutely loved in the book. I think it was a great loss for the movies to deprive him of that chance to prove his worth and to be so incredibly well-balanced and "a man whom pity deeply stirred", a philosopher as well as a soldier. But I liked Legolas. The Jackson's character is much more dynamic than Tolkien's.

Oh yes, Eowyn too. I'd had a better opinion on princesses in general before I saw the movie. Is it really OK for them to go about hugging stray rangers ? And oh! that crying, all the time! Come on, she came from a family and a nation of warriors! And what about why she actually went to war: wasn't it because she thought there was nothing for her in this life but to die, and committing suicide was too weak?
Anyone?

I notced that in the book Faramir has a very "white" good personality and while that works quite well on page, for a casual viewer this might seem a little unrealistic so PJ kind of made him a bit grey. I think, though, that he took this too far especially in the theatrical release but the extended version does explain it a little and at the same time shows how the power of the RIng affected Boromir.
Thats just my view but i think some people might have been a bit harsh on the film Faramir and PJ's depiction of him.
Derarl

I agree that we all love Grondy but I didn't know that he was there in the movie FotR. Can you tell me in which scene was he?

Grond was indeed the battering ram the Witch-King used to take down MT's gate, named after the Hammer of the Underworld, but that object only appeared in ROTK and not in FOTR.

And I chose my name in honor of the Dwarven Smith who mastered Grond, the battering ram, by melting it down for use in forging the mithril and steel gates that replaced those of Minas Tirith that were destroyed by the forces of the Witchking.