The Hobbit movies include more Jackson than Tolkien. And the Jackson parts are ridiculous. An elf princess falls in love with a dwarf? Legolas shows up? There is a giant battle with Smaug inside the mountain in which Smaug falls into a lake of molten gold? Radagast is covered in bird poo and rides a sled pulled by squirrels? Its as though Jackson wondered what the Hobbit would be like if Tolkien's editor had been a 1st grader and then said "that is the movie I am going to make".

He made a good effort to stay true to the LotR movies. The parts where he adds his own stuff are generally awful. The worst offense was having the ghosts win the battle for Minas Tirith. In the books, the Ghosts only help off screen to free an army of Gondor-men in the south to sail up the river in enemy ships to come help at Minas Tirith. When the Gondor-men and Aragorn arrive at Minas Tirith in enemy ships the Orcs celebrate and the Gondor-men in the city lose hope. Then Aragorn's flag is unfurled from the mast of one of the ships and an army of Gondor-men from the south gets off the ships. The Orcs start freaking out and the humans regain their courage. This turns the tide of the battle. It is one of the great moments in the books.

But Jackson changes this awesome moment and has an army of invincible ghosts kill all the orcs on the field and in the city. How is that a better story? Its how I would end a bed-time story I was telling my 5 year old if I just wanted to stop telling the story. "And then an army of invincible ghosts came and killed all the orcs. The end."

Other awful Jackson additions include: Gollum tricking Frodo into turning against Sam and Faramir trying to take Frodo back to Minas Tirith after finding out that he has the ring.

I am a dork.