I liked the movies ... especially Gimli. What can I say? I've become so much easier to please in my old age :wink:
They are a different telling of the story than what is told in the books. No doubt about that. But then, no movie can ever capture what you created in your head as you read so most books to movies are disappointing. I remember being rather livid over the results of some books being made into movies. Not that I can even remember what books or movies those were anymore! Maybe if I think awhile, I can remember the movies that angered me the most. I seem to recall It was one. Though it was also rather terrifying both as a book and a movie. Oh, I know. I was incredibly disappointed in the Wizard of Oz. They changed everything, and left us believing Dorothy dreamed it all. She hadn't! There really, REALLY is an Oz.
But ... I digress.
The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings were literary adaptations by Tolkien of the Red Book of Westmarch manuscripts. These manuscripts included material Bilbo translated from Elvish Lore as well as Bilbo's memoirs. Bilbo expanded his memoirs to include the adventures of Frodo, but it was left to first Frodo and then Samwise to complete the manuscripts. The original Red Book of Westmarch manuscripts were lost ... fortunately, not before several copies had been made. The first copy went to Gondor where it became the Thain's Book and was annotated, corrected, and expanded by the dwarves. Some decades later, a copy of a revised and expanded Thain's Book was delivered to the Shire and kept in Great Smials. That version is what Tolkien translated to English ... though I'm sure it underwent quite a few changes to become more appealing to his audience.
Sooo ... when you think of the movie as being adaptations of Tolkien's adaptation, it's entirely possible some things changed over time. Glorfindel may actually have originally been a girl
And dwarves? Well seriously. Dwarves can be rather strange, don't you think? I mean ... have you ever seen a female dwarf? They must exist. But, do we really believe that female dwarves are just as bearded as male dwarves? Possibly. Could be that Gimli was actually female!