Here's the best way to sum up the difference between Peter Jackson's two Middle Earth trilogies...

I haven't watched The Lord of the Rings for nearly a decade, but here are the members of the Fellowship of the Ring, from memory:

1. Frodo
2. Sam
3. Merry
4. Pippin
5. Gimli
6. Legolas
7. Aragorn
8. Boromir
9. Gandalf

I binge-watched The Hobbit films this past weekend. Here are the members of that journey, from memory too:

1. Bilbo
2. Gandalf
3. Kili
4. Thorin
5. Fat dwarf
6. Rhymes with Kili dwarf
7. Hard of hearing dwarf
8. Irish dwarf
9. Old, wise dwarf
10. Angry dwarf
11. Crazy hair dwarf
12. Dwarf with braids
13. Youngish dwarf
14. Another dwarf
15. Some other dwarf

When The Return of the King ended I probably cried during all of the endings. When The Battle of the Five Armies was done I wondered why I had stayed up so late.

The Hobbit pales in comparison with the original trilogy. All the tricks used here seem to be ones that were used previously, and honestly more effectively. Never did I find myself in awe during the proceedings, where I can remember numerous times during The Lord of the Rings that I found myself wowed. The Hobbit probably benefited from me watching it one after the other, and honestly I might give the entire trilogy an extra half a star if viewed as one long film.

I love the world of Middle Earth that Jackson created in all of these films, but if I am to go back it will be by watching the first trilogy again. Those are movies with events and characters worth remembering.