Jackson Talks "Fairy-Tail" Tone in 'The Hobbit'

Back when I wrote about the new much-loved The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey trailer, one of my main worries was the the tone of the film.  I pointed out that The Hobbit is less epic and much more light-hearted than Lord of the Rings trilogy, and hoped that director Peter Jackson would understand that.  Well, my hopes  seem to have been answered, according to an interview with Jackson and producer/wife Fran Walsh had with Total Film, discussing the tone they are aiming for with the two Hobbit films.

Said Jackson, “The Hobbit’ is very much a children’s book and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ is something else; it’s not really aimed at children at all. I realized the characters of the dwarves are the difference. Their energy and disdain of anything politically correct brings a new kind of spirit to it… The dwarves give it a kind of childish, comedic quality that gives us a very different tone from [the 'Rings' trilogy].”

Fran Walsh added, "We always saw ‘The Hobbit’ more in the golden light of a fairytale. It’s more playful. But by the time you get to the end, Tolkien is writing himself into that place where he can begin that epic journey of writing LOTR, which took, as he put it, his life’s blood. All those heavier, darker themes which are so prevalent in the later trilogy start to come [more] into play in ['There and Back Again'].”

It's January 2, and thanks to this interview, it still feels like Christmas. There isn't a great deal to add to this, I'm just to see that Jackson understands the book he's adapting and isn't just going make another Lord of the Rings film.  True, Walsh talked about the tone getting a bit darker in the second half, but that's something that's present in the book as well.  Now that my major issues with the film have vanished, I can now commence shamelessly hyping it.