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The Hobbit Reviews
Fantastic. Ready to go back tomorrow.
Too long? Not long enough! I'm not a huge Tolkien nerd, but I love these Jackson films. My favorite series of genre films by far. _Everything_ else seems like amateur hour.
As far as some of the criticisms? So what if Peter is bending a little here and there to make this a prequel to LotR. Perfect! Makes the film part of a larger whole and it was a joy to be in this world again. Peter's doing a far better job making this a seamless series than Lucas did with his prequels. All comparisons between the two should end now.
Shore being lazy by re-using the themes from the LotR trilogy? WTF? Why would he do otherwise? When the ring is getting nasty I wanna hear that ominous ring tune. When in Hobbiton give me that 'Concerning Hobbits' jingle. And the Misty Mountains? Awesome. I _really_ dug how that tune was used throughout with the dwarves. Been humming it all day...I think I like this soundtrack better than any from LoTR.
And speaking of dwarves...the fact that these dwarves I actually cared for made any extra material by Jackson worth it. Hell, my wife dug this film far more than Fellowship because of the dwarves which was a big surprise to me. Well done! (EDIT: However, this may also be due to the material. The narratives of Bilbo going outside of his comfort zone and the dwarves looking for a place to belong are, I'm assuming, a lot easier for the general public to connect with than random fantasy dudes looking for jewelry.)
I'll also chime in with others that Martin's Bilbo is way more likable than Elijah's Frodo.
When all is said and done, with Jackson, Weta, Shore, etc back, we're gonna have 6 films (damn near 24 hours in all once the extended editions hit) of solid, consistent Middle-Earth adventure. This is leagues beyond the quality of any other given franchise.
Greatest Film Franchise of All Time.
(The only knock I have on the film is the overly exaggerated action sequence in the goblin lair. That goblin king was a hoot though!)
(EDIT: This was a screening to see if it was too intense for my 6 year old. It was. He'll be watching this from the comfort of home.)
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Tell the kids to not get too attached...
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- Matt Thrower
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- Shiny Balls
- Number Of Fence
The criticisms I've read baffle me. I wasn't bored once and found no problems at all with the pacing of the film. I really, really liked the real-life quality that 3D HFR lent to the movie and was only occasionally bothered by the side-effects, such as the occasional jerky movement or poorly-captured CGI.
In some ways it makes a better transition to the screen than LotR did. The shallower source material gave the director more to play with and embellish and I thought the alterations mostly worked magnificently well. I'm still puzzled as to how they plan to make three films of this length though: the end is about halfway through the book so I really can't see where another six hours of material is coming from.
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For the first half hour, I was impatient with the pacing, and a touch queasy due to the combination of 3D plus a couple of beers before the movie. The pacing dragged at other times during the movie, and then the action scenes were much more violent than in the book. I was particularly unhappy with the scene where Bilbo talked some smack and kicked some ass near the end, because that scene pretty much ignored Bilbo's whole personality. And in general, I am still resentful of the greedy decision to make The Hobbit into a trilogy.
However, there were things that I liked about the movie. The cinematography was often great, and none of the songs annoyed me. I even enjoyed that really moody song that the dwarves sang at Bilbo's place. Gandalf was very good, and Bilbo was great (except for that one fight scene), and Gollum was just as great as he was in LotR. And though I'm not a big fan of 3D, there was a moment near the end involving a butterfly that stunned me. I need to see this again sometime, because I currently have very mixed feelings about The Hobbit, though I'm certain that it didn't suck.
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- metalface13
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We saw the no-frills, no 3D, no HFR version because after my wife got pregnant with our kid, she couldn't handle 3D movies. Also I'd heard the "too realistic it looks fake" comments. I can't stand when HDTVs are set to the goofy frame rate that makes everything looks like it's a second-rate TV production.
I did not like the 20-mintue long introduction. I couldn't tell if the Bilbo/Frodo scenes were from the editing room floor of LOTR or shot just for The Hobbit. Felt really hokey: "Oh, Bilbo! You and you're crazy adventures! I'm going to wait for Gandalf! Yippee!" I also would have preferred to learn of the history of Lonely Mountain, Smaug, Dale, etc., from the dwarves and their song. I wanted to learn it as Bilbo learns it, not Bilbo 80 years into the future telling me how great the dwarven kingdom was. He never saw the old days. When you have one of the best opening lines of a book "In a hole there lived a hobbit" you should lead with that in the movie, too.
After they leave the Shire things pick up and I liked it quite a bit, not as much as LOTR though. My other complaint is why they changed the troll dialogue. I really like the argument they get into as written in the book, it's funny stuff. The best bit is when Bilbo riddles with Gollum. That part and when Bilbo talks with Smaug are my two favorite parts out of all of Tolkein's work.
I never got bored or felt like the movie was too long. I appreciated the distinct character designs for all the dwarves. With 13 characters who don't get a lot of screentime each, it was really important to make sure they stood out.
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- metalface13
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Ancient_of_MuMu wrote: The old Bilbo/Frodo is the worst part of the movie. Total fan service with no point.
It didn't even feel like fan service, it felt like "Hey guys! Don't forget this movie is a prequel to Lord of the Rings, and you guys liked that movie!" I'm aware not every movie-goer is as hip to this fantasy stuff as I am, but if you've seen LOTR, you know about The Hobbit. It's not like they never mentioned Bilbo and his exploits in those movies.
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- ChristopherMD
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