Lack of good in LOTR movies

Anthony Esolen has an interesting article on Peter Jackson's movie trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, and how it compares to the books. He hits a major point right on the head: the charm of goodness.

It is my personal theory that Tolkien's books were successful because they showed beauty, spiritual and physical, in a way that washes over you like a cool breeze. It's different, it's fresh, it's refreshing, but it reminds you of better things. Even some things that you may not have noticed were beautiful before (and here's where my metaphor dies ;). Like a hole in a hill, with the kettle whistling, and a good friend sitting with you. While I love Pride and Prejudice, at the end, you are likely to want to live at Pemberley and have £10,000 a year. If you aren't careful, you might find yourself not contented with your current station in life.

But Tolkien celebrates the joys of good people, no matter what their station. Who has not finished The Lord of the Rings and not wanted to be a hobbit? These folks are neither very smart, nor good looking, nor eloquent, nor rich, nor perfect in any way. But they are content with just being simple and good, which is something not often found, or if it is, it is rarely so well portrayed as in The Lord of the Rings. And it's not just the hobbits. People of all classes in Tolkien are very simply good. If you transplanted Aragorn, King of Gondor, to the Shire, it's impossible to imagine him bemoaning the loss of his throne. It's hard to describe how wonderfully refreshing it is to see contentedness in any circumstance. You have to read it to understand.

While I do love Peter Jackson's movies, despite story and character flaws, I can never be truly happy with them because they have become action movies. Minor characters must be given more action scenes, because nothing else matters. If you aren't fighting in the war, you're pretty useless. Which is the opposite of Tolkien's message. Even the visual beauty of the Shire and Rivendell can't overcome this underlying message. Perhaps it's because Peter Jackson isn't a Christian, and therefore can't understand the beauty of goodness. Perhaps he's too calloused to this evil world. But whatever the reason is, Peter Jackson failed.