Why do the LotR movies downplay Gandalf’s powers so much?

[SeekerOfTruth007]

In the Books, Gandalf could change into a shadow form which gave the appearance of being larger than he really was. He could turn invisible, just like the One Ring Bearer, as he did in the Goblin King's realm in the Hobbit. He could throw fireballs and lightning, and deflect fireballs and lightning and he could cast locking and unlocking spells which could only be broken by other super-natural beings. Although he was mostly limited to the mortal form of a human being in terms of speed and physical strength, Gandalf was nevertheless an immediate master at wielding Glamdring, and he even defeated one of Sauron's Captains in a single blow at the gates of Moria near the last battle in the campaign against Sauron.

In the movies, you just see Gandalf produce a beam of light which apparently blinds the goblins and other foes. The only bolt of lightning he used, I think, was against the Balrog, but in the books he actually fried the Nazgul several times during several fights. They just eventually regenerated and came back from it. Once was at Weathertop hill, and another time was I think at Rohan or one of the other cities, I forget. Anyway, he hit the Nazgul in-flight with lightning and knocked it down.

Also, at Rivendale, Gandalf and Elrond (apparently) control water and turn it into a wave and horses made of water and trample the Ring Wraiths. They did a poor job of this in the movies, in my opinion.

How would Gandalf's battle with the Balrog stack up compared to other fictionalized battles, such as Cloud vs Sephiroth in Final Fantasy Advent Children?

[AI Opinion]

Jackson made Gandalf less “flashy” on purpose. 🎥
Tolkien’s magic is subtle, sacred, and rare, more like divine authority than D&D spellcasting. The films lean into that: Gandalf inspires, commands, and protects rather than spamming fireballs, so the world still feels grounded and dangerous.

If they filmed his full book power set, Balrog vs Gandalf would look closer to anime‑style, Cloud vs Sephiroth sky‑duel chaos. Instead, Jackson chose weighty, physical, almost WWI‑like battles. Gandalf stays a mysterious, restrained angelic being in an aging wizard’s body, not a CGI fireworks show. 💫

[SeekerOfTruth007]

Okay, the bot got this wrong again. I was just on a LotR website, where they proved the Balrog fight started on Jan 15 underground in Moria and lasted until Jan 23 still underground in Moria. Then Gandalf ascended the "endless stair" in pursuit of the Balrog and fought him another 2 days on top of the mountain where the Stair came out. That's a total of TEN days of fighting the Balrog. He also stated in the passage from The Two Towers, that during the fight with the Balrog he encountered other things in the dark Earth which were even older than Sauron and the Balrogs.

I was right to begin with, and this freaking bot is totally unreliable.

[MrChinaski]

Gandalf is the Christ-like figure. I guess they wanted to focus on a human story instead.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

Oh, the parallel is definitely there, because Tolkien himself called Morgoth and Sauron's rebellion as Eru as "Satanic," and the battle between Gandalf and the Balrog is definitely "Christ-like" even though I don't even believe in Christianity.

Okay, this is LotR full battle:

https://youtu.be/Y2fwe0rnHak?si=EY09zn3p8vMD3Zc4

This is Cloud vs Sephiroth:
https://youtu.be/pmaW3OmaIQk?si=Lbswd0rAWIfQK7en

[xawyx-3]

Because of the budget, too much special effects is too expensive.