Point taken about studios demanding a romance subplot to appeal to teenage girls. Still, it could have been executed better. Some of the scenes were alright ('what if I have something down my trousers' drew a chuckle), but some were just-ugh. Shining elf hallucination? Really? Tauriel using athelas? Really?
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Originally Posted by Magin
So I hate to ask... but since I've never read the Hobbit, just how much was changed for the movie? Obviously the elf-dwarf romance should be non-existent, and I guess even Legolas shouldn't be anywhere in here.
However, I liked the second movie because I'm going to have to agree with what was said about the first one- it had too much of Two Towers walking syndrome (seriously, at points the Hobbit: Unexpected Journey felt like it was just dragging along)... but if much of what was added isn't in the book, how dry will the book itself be?
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The trilogy was extended to include canonical events from outside the Hobbit, and some of the things that were mentioned in passing were expanded on, like the stone giants fighting, the goblins, Rivendell, Mirkwood, etc.
In addition to what everyone else said, the characters' personalities were changed somewhat as well. Few of the dwarves were described. Thorin is supposed to be really old (the oldest, IIRC), and we get the impression that he's extremely self-important. He was my least favorite character, so it was painful seeing him turned into a sympathetic character in the first two movies. Fili and Kili are also supposed to be the two youngest. Changing Thorin's age makes sense with how they changed his character. They probably did it to Ori to have another character type to work with.
Beorn is not supposed to be a Native American rip-off (that was the impression I got from his scene) but very temperamental, so much so that they have to resort to trolling him into giving them lodging.
I'm not opposed to change, and I'm definitely not watching the movies for a word-for-word adaptation. Making it fit with the LotR lore, giving the dwarves their own personalities and adding the action sequences made the movies more enjoyable, but some of the changes were gratuitous. I recommend reading the book, maybe after the trilogy ends, for comparison. It's a fun, lighthearted read and should only take a couple hours. (Just remember it's a children's book
).