
Many critics have commented on the ridiculousness of Peter Jackson’s decision to divide The Hobbit, a slight book of around 300 pages, into three long films. But this choice is merely the tip of an iceberg that is the trilogy’s fundamental and unforgivable flaws. There are also scenes, plot lines and characters which simply don’t belong in the film.

Another character addition is that of Evangeline Lilly’s elf, Tauriel. Whilst it was an admirable decision to add a female character to a film that would have otherwise been a sausage fest, Tauriel’s main purpose is to provide an amorous subplot with another elf, Kili. Why couldn’t Tauriel be an interesting, independent and courageous character all on her own, without having to be romantically tied to a man? Admittedly, Arwen and Aragorn’s relationship was hugely exaggerated in the LOTR films, but somehow this was forgiveable, if only because it allowed for some romantic scenes starring the gorgeous Viggo Mortensen.
Not only were characters shoe horned in, but concise action sequences have been bloated out into absurd, sprawling episodes. The barrel escape scene in The Desolation of Smaug, for example, is meant to briefly demonstrate Bilbo’s quick thinking, but it turns into a ridiculous, over-the-top and overly long, (to the point of being boring) piece of filler in Jackson’s hands.
On their own these flaws would have been, perhaps, forgivable, but the thing that Jackson gets really wrong with The Hobbit is less easy to pin point than extra characters and scenes. The director did an undeniably fantastic job with LOTR; the casting of Ian McKellen, Sean Astin and all the rest was spot on; the natural beauty of New Zealand brought middle earth to life; and the story was told with the gravitas and poignant tone that it deserved. It had all the makings of an epic blockbuster.

Rather than being a battle between the forces of good and evil, like LOTR, it is a journey of self-discovery for the central character Bilbo, a typical, unassuming and stubborn hobbit who becomes caught up in a quest after Gandalf orchestrates an impromptu tea party at his hobbit hole, Bag-End, in order to enlist him.
Bilbo discovers another side to himself on the journey, as he narrowly escapes trolls and battles giant spiders. His personal transformation is the main focus of Tolkien’s narrative. But Jackson has decided to sideline this in order to further pursue the more expansive and epic LOTR narrative. Gandalf’s fight with the necromancer (Sauron) is depicted with hyperbolic Good V Evil melodrama, even though it was only added as a brief afterthought by Tolkien in order to better connect the hobbit with the later books. The depiction is completely out of touch with a book that is essentially light-hearted and never takes itself very seriously.
This is not to say that Tolkien’s novel didn’t have deeply scary moments; the goblin king and his cronies were genuinely terrifying and there is a real sense of peril to that encounter. But again, Jackson misses the mark by depicting them as comically grotesque and inept.
Ultimately then, the problem with Jackson’s direction is possibly that he directed LOTR first, and so was unable or unwilling to undo the character development and setting of tone that he achieved in his first films. As a result the trilogy fails dismally to capture the fun and adventurous tone of Tolkien’s wonderful children’s book.