Out of Pod Experience

It's time for me to write my review of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (and for some strange reason, I keep trying to spell it 'hoobit').

I was apprehensive about this outing to the Shire; Peter Jackson had set the bar so very high with the Lord of the Rings trilogy that I wasn't certain he could do it again. So many filmmakers burst out of the gate with a debut blockbuster, only to fizzle when it comes time for the next installment.

I needen't have worried. An Unexpected Journey takes us back to Middle Earth, and brings us along for one wild ride.

Synopsis:

The opening scenes of the film are set in the Shire, just prior to Bilbo's 111th birthday and the journey of the Fellowship. Bilbo is writing what will become the Red Book of Westmarch, and puts it aside to tend to his birthday preparations (and his nephew Frodo, who makes some very canny observations about Bilbo's increasing reclusiveness).

The scene changes as Frodo runs off to meet Gandalf; a shot of the elderly Bilbo smoking his famed pipe becomes one of a much younger Bilbo, sixty years earlier, who is interrupted in his morning routine by a very familiar wizard...

Of course, I probably don't need to say any more than that. We all know what happens next, right?

Review:

Of particular note are the handling of Radagast the Brown; in Tolkien's novel, he gets a passing mention, but Jackson gives him a significant part to play (Doctor Who fans may recognize Sylvester McCoy inside the costume). Radagast's expanded role meshes well with the film, and McCoy is clearly having a great time, which only adds to his scenes.

Howard Shore's amazing orchestral score returns, and expands with a stunning performance of 'Misty Mountains Cold' early in the film. Additionally, Peter Jackson appears to have included the most amusing and idiosyncratic pieces of Tolkien's dialogue, as well as throwing in a few lines that are just there because they're so funny.

Throw in a brutal boulder-throwing, rock-smashing knock-down drag-out fight between three massive stone giants (easily the most memorable set-piece in recent film history), and you've got what easily qualifies as one of the best films released this year.

Final Scores:

I won't bother to rate by category -- this is one film you will regret missing.

I'm a fantasy fan, I like the LotR movies and Tolkien in general, but I just don't like the new Hobbit movies. They're not bad, they have a lot of good in them, but they're stretched out in all the wrong places. What do I mean by that? I knew when the project got started, that you'd have to expand on a lot of scenes and the story, since the book ignores a lot of important events or just moves past them in a paragraph. That just won't do in a movie. Rewriting how the story and dialogue unfolds was a must. The problem is, that some of the good character interaction scenes have actually been reduced or cut and pointless interaction and non-threatening cartoony action has been added in abundance. The end result is less memorable character interaction moments and a lot more pointless bloat or forgettable action scenes, that have no sense of threat and again bloat the already lengthy running time of the movies.

I would say that in the end they're ok movies, that are reasonably entertaining. On a technical level they're great and the acting is fine. The problem is, that instead of just being solid pieces of juicy steak, they're more like decent pieces of meat with loads of tough gristle, that you just wish wasn't there. You're not enjoying eating it, it's taking forever to chew through and it's bringing down the overall enjoyment of the experience. Could be better, but it's still a piece of meat and even ok meat is tasty.


PS. I haven't had a bite to eat in 12 hours and I think it's starting to show.

Hobbit of today is making silly stuff and stuffing it in the films, to make it three times longer, to make three times the money, because it was so horrendally expensive to produce.

But I have seen the old, gorgeously animated version, and I like it more. And the music is cult.

I like the Lord of the rings series more than Hobbit, it was worth trilogy. Hobbit - not. It's too damn overfilmed.

I would clean the ton of the unnecessary, silly and made up stuff, to leave only the meaty stuff, it would make a great film, but shorter by 1/2, it would be totally worth the time in my opinion, But now its like great wine diluted with Pepsi. Bleeeh.

I was somewhat disappointed in the movies until this utter master of film showed up.

I like the movies. I also wish that a good part of the action had been cut a good bit and replaced with character development. For example, the scene where the Dwarves are escaping Rivendell was, at times, painful to watch. Orcs were all down that river like they completely expected the Dwarves to escape through it when they were actually there to try an all out assault on the only entry point they had to the city. That scene should have been the Dwarves leaving the city via the barrels and after that a much shorter fight scene at the damn between the orcs and the elves. This could have easily ended with the Orcs falling back to continue their pursuit of the Dwarves. The continuity of the story would have been left unaffected.

Other than that I was thoroughly entertained. I especially entertained by the connection between the youngest Dwarven Prince and the Elf. I am a sucker for a love story...especially one tainted with the concept of 'forbidden' love.