My thinking?
Loved the films.
Hated PJ's, what can only be described as, Elf-Porn.
He loved Elves too much.
Elves here, Elves there, Elves and Elves EVERYWHERE! but didn't stick to Tolkien's view of Elves being simultaneously venerable *and* whimsical.
The Dwarves, on the other hand, were comic from a Hobbits PoV in that they 'sort of' understood each other, but are still the quintessential 'odd couple', yet Elves and Dwarves really should have been a case of ... well...something halfway between Nelson Mandella and Hitler becoming best friends...
Right, that sounds daft. Y'know what I mean though: that Elves and Dwarves had been literally at each others' throats for centuries, with reasonable reasons. And yet such a simple act of helping out some other people brought an Elf Prince and a Dwarf 'lad' together as perhaps the most 'united' pair of friends in the book (perhaps meaning that Frodo and Sam come close).
Without PJ on the scene I feel that, at least, this means the Dwarves will actually get a chance at being done nicely in the film.
Though they were comical in the Hobbit, so was almost everything (except Smaug, Beorn and the Men of the Lake, IIRC). But in LotR, Gimli was one of the characters that stands out as remarkable. Second to Gandalf, Gimli seemed the venerable-knowledgeable type, but one who really wasn't a world away from the Hobbits. (Particularly in my mind is when Gimli gets Frodo to look in the pool near the Waystone)
Still: PJ did some amazing stuff with LotR, I just wish he didn't like elves so much!
_________________ "Number 6 calls to you The Cylon Detector beckons Your girlfriend is a toaster"
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