10 Worst Changes Peter Jackson Made To The Hobbit
8. Diminishing The Part Of Beorn
The task of expanding two movies into three, obviously left Peter Jackson fried. So fried, that he seemed to neglect one of the most memorable characters from the book.
Jackson hired Swedish actor Mikael Persbrandt to play the shapeshifter Beorn. It was a great choice. He commanded the imposing menace of the character with ease. His design was one of the hardest to nail down and took the longest to create, but ironically he had one of the smallest parts.
The filmmakers introduced Beorn during the second movie, setting him up as a formidable character, only to make the laziest callback to him in cinema history. The Eagles turned up to save the day (again), and airdropped Beorn into the midst of the orcs... and that's it, we don't get any further references to the character. Considering all the other long-winded fight sequences Jackson threw into the Battle of Five Armies, you'd think he could have given Beorn a slightly better climax. It's not like Tolkien didn't give him material to go off.
In the book, Beorn arrives late to the battle; he manages to rescue an injured Thorin, carries him to safety and then returns to kill Bolg. He pretty much helps turn the tide of battle, saving the day. Sadly Jackson deemed it wiser to cut all this out, and dedicate precious time to a forced dwarf/elf love triangle.