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The Hobbit Reviews

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28 Dec 2012 02:30 - 28 Dec 2012 02:48 #140343 by Mr. White
Replied by Mr. White on topic Re: The Hobbit Reviews
Saw it earlier today.

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.)
Last edit: 28 Dec 2012 02:48 by Mr. White.
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30 Dec 2012 05:31 #140471 by Ancient_of_MuMu
Finally saw it today and was pleasantly surprised. I will come to love it as much as the LOTR trilogy, but it felt like a greatest hits album rather than that tight best album of a band. It has all the best stuff there, but lacks that extra bit of soul.

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31 Dec 2012 01:56 #140497 by Mr. White
Replied by Mr. White on topic Re: The Hobbit Reviews
Thinking about this earlier today...with The Hobbit being the 'kid's' story this thing is going to end up far more grim than the 'adult' LotR did. In LotR, only Boromir bought it. What's the count at the end of the third film (I'm assuming the Battle of Five Armies)? Something like seven dwarves down? Half the party!

Tell the kids to not get too attached...

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31 Dec 2012 23:09 #140531 by Matt Thrower
Replied by Matt Thrower on topic Re: The Hobbit Reviews
Saw it today in 3D HFR. Loved it as a pitch-perfect popcorn film. Not much going on between the ears but hugely entertaining from beginning to end.

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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31 Dec 2012 23:21 #140535 by Shellhead
Replied by Shellhead on topic Re: The Hobbit Reviews
Against my wishes, we saw the 3D Imax version (but not the 48 fps version), because that was the only available choice when we got to the theater late. My girlfriend was less than enthusiastic going in, because she didn't like The Hobbit cartoon that she saw as a kid, and she didn't fully enjoy LotR because the movies were too long and had too many characters. Surprise, surprise, she really liked The Hobbit. She found many of the scenes to be beautiful or fascinating or funny, and was only impatient with the pacing in a few scenes. And she got slightly tired of being reminded of the greatness of Thorin Oakenshield every 20 minutes or so.

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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03 Jan 2013 19:58 #140683 by metalface13
Replied by metalface13 on topic Re: The Hobbit Reviews
I saw this over the holidays as well. I'm a big Tolkein nerd, so I was salivating when the two movies were originally announced, because I wanted to see all the appendices stuff added in. When Jackson said it was going to be three movies instead, I got worried. Lowered my expectations due to initial reviews, but overall I liked it.

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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03 Jan 2013 20:12 #140685 by Ancient_of_MuMu
The old Bilbo/Frodo is the worst part of the movie. Total fan service with no point.

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03 Jan 2013 20:40 #140686 by metalface13
Replied by metalface13 on topic Re: The Hobbit Reviews

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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12 Jan 2013 03:06 #141382 by ChristopherMD
This movie was a steaming pile of goblin turd.

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12 Jan 2013 03:38 #141385 by Bull Nakano
Replied by Bull Nakano on topic Re: The Hobbit Reviews
I saw this last night, I enjoy the book The Hobbit more than The LotR trilogy, but this film just failed to leave an impression on me. I mean at all. I didn't dislike it, didn't find it boring, but neither did I find it terribly interesting. Maybe I need to rewatch it when it's on video, it just didn't feel like the spirit of the book came across in the film. It was really cool seeing Christopher Lee in it though!
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