I have to be completely honest. I loved the Lord of the Rings and Jackson did a great job of telling the story. He left out Tom Bombadil for some reason. I am also a very big fan of The Hobbit. I have read the Hobbit at least a dozen times. I have read it to my oldest son twice and will read it to my other sons when they get a little older.
That being said: I fell asleep during the Hobbit’s second movie installment. The entire franchise is TOO DAMN LONG and has too many parts not in the book.
It should have been a scene for scene account of the actual book which is a children’s book after all. A single three hour movie would do more justice than this over wrought trilogy.
I've always thought that the Rankin-Bass animated version of The Hobbit with Orson Bean voicing Bilbo and John Huston voicing Gandalf was a gem. Very entertaining and true to the book.
Jackson is on record as having said that nonTolkien fans would have found Bombadil confusing and it wasn’t essential to the story, as much as we would have wanted to see it.
I can agree that it would have been very confusing and distracting, because the Hobbits were on the run for their lives against ever-present danger, but they could stay with, Bombadil practically forever, not to mention that this ring supposedly got everybody it touch addicted to wanting oower, but to him it had about as much hold on him as a cheap trinket would have on you or I?
I think a couple of 100 minute movies, with Sam narrating the story to his kids, would cover it and keep it true to the spirit of the book.
Don’t forget about how Shore’s soundtrack was probably the best for a film series.