The Hobbit Movie
I discovered The Hobbit before I discovered Dungeons and Dragons (D&D). I'm sure it's no big coincidence that when I started playing D&D in fifth grade (1979/1980), reading The Hobbit the year before had a lot to do with my love for the game. I'd read The Hobbit twice by then...I'd even seen a theatrical production of the story...in the round on a rotating stage! Hell, the second time I read the book, I read it sitting in a tree because I thought, "This is a book that is worthy of after-school reading...in a tree!" So when I heard The Hobbit was being made into a movie, I was excited.
A confession: no matter how many times I tried, I never got through reading any of the Lord of the Rings books. I tried. Over and over...in elementary school, in junior high, in high school, and as an adult. I made it through the Ralph Bakshi cartoon version, but never the books. When the movies came out...I watched them. One or two in the theater, and then finished up at home. It's not that I didn't like the movies, but...it's safe to say I didn't think they were the brilliant things others saw them to be. And that's cool; to each their own. I've never been that guy who, when others love something I didn't like, feels the need to proclaim, "That sucked!" If I leave a movie I wasn't fond of with at least one person in a group who LOVED it, I will say it was fun or focus on some other merit the movie had because it sucks to come out of a movie you loved to negativity. I know what it feels like to have that moment deflated by someone with a burning need to tell you, in a sense, that you have no taste.
With the Lord of the Rings movies, I could understand WHY people loved them because they were very well done, but -- like the books -- for some reason, they didn't leave me feeling floored. I liked the movies; I found them very soothing. It wasn't even the, "Lord of the Rings is better than Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Porky's II!" people who ruined it for me...I'm pretty good about ignoring boorish buttmonkeys who instantly feel the need to compare apples to lugnuts. I WANTED to be swept up in the feeling of, "Best. Thing. EVER!!!" with the Lord of the Rings movies, but it just never hit fully on that level.
But when I heard Peter Jackson was making a Hobbit movie...yeah, I sprouted geek wood!
Bigtime!
I could see his skill in giving great attention to the Lord of the Rings movies, and knew The Hobbit was in good hands. I envisioned a 4-hour movie; everything in my head as a kid alive on the big screen! I gushed at the thought of it. Then...I heard it was going to be split into two parts. My head drooped a bit; I wanted the magic of the movie in one sitting. It's not a long book, after all; it's not a trilogy like Lord of the Rings. Why not just make one longish movie (you KNOW we'd sit for even 5 hours for it all)? Then...I heard...it was being split into three parts. And with that decision, I just lost all interest in seeing it in a theater. It instantly became, "I'll wait years for them to all be released on DVD and dedicate a Saturday to seeing it all in a sitting."
In part, I feel this way because it's one book, so it seems best to make it one movie to get that feeling all at once. But more than that, it feels like...someone going through my pockets, looking for my wallet. The older I get, the more than kind of thing bothers me.
The studio and Peter Jackson KNOW people will show up, even if it was spread out over SIX movies. Hell, some people would probably prefer that. I get the anticipation of "There is more coming..." But again, it's not a big book; it seems like it could have been done in one movie. Maybe it's because George Lucas and people who've followed have tried hooking people into buying the same thing over and over, or dragging something out in an attempt to make more money. I might be wrong...maybe The Hobbit merits three parts (or more). I WILL watch all three parts when they are on DVD.
Normally, I'm not one to listen to reviews. But my fear with The Hobbit, once I heard it was being split into three movies, was that it would drag on. I've seen the "OMG!!! IT'S WONDERFUL AND I CAN'T WAIT FOR MORE!!!" but I've seen more reviews along the lines of "Slow and long..."
The first reaction is the one I'm sure Jackson and the studio were hoping for. As one who is a geek for many things, I get it. I always want that shared experience of, "Isn't this great?!" "Hell yeah, it's the best!!!" and when it happens, it's such a fun experience. I can even understand that if you feel that from the first part of The Hobbit, you get that two more times. And that's kind of wonderful.
Maybe I'll break down and see the first part in the theater. Maybe all my fears will be realized, or maybe I'll become one of many who can't wait for the next parts. Maybe it merits three parts, but there's that side of me -- at least right now -- that feels like it was broken up to make more money, not to be the best film it could be.
I hope I'm wrong.
A confession: no matter how many times I tried, I never got through reading any of the Lord of the Rings books. I tried. Over and over...in elementary school, in junior high, in high school, and as an adult. I made it through the Ralph Bakshi cartoon version, but never the books. When the movies came out...I watched them. One or two in the theater, and then finished up at home. It's not that I didn't like the movies, but...it's safe to say I didn't think they were the brilliant things others saw them to be. And that's cool; to each their own. I've never been that guy who, when others love something I didn't like, feels the need to proclaim, "That sucked!" If I leave a movie I wasn't fond of with at least one person in a group who LOVED it, I will say it was fun or focus on some other merit the movie had because it sucks to come out of a movie you loved to negativity. I know what it feels like to have that moment deflated by someone with a burning need to tell you, in a sense, that you have no taste.
With the Lord of the Rings movies, I could understand WHY people loved them because they were very well done, but -- like the books -- for some reason, they didn't leave me feeling floored. I liked the movies; I found them very soothing. It wasn't even the, "Lord of the Rings is better than Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Porky's II!" people who ruined it for me...I'm pretty good about ignoring boorish buttmonkeys who instantly feel the need to compare apples to lugnuts. I WANTED to be swept up in the feeling of, "Best. Thing. EVER!!!" with the Lord of the Rings movies, but it just never hit fully on that level.
But when I heard Peter Jackson was making a Hobbit movie...yeah, I sprouted geek wood!
Bigtime!
I could see his skill in giving great attention to the Lord of the Rings movies, and knew The Hobbit was in good hands. I envisioned a 4-hour movie; everything in my head as a kid alive on the big screen! I gushed at the thought of it. Then...I heard it was going to be split into two parts. My head drooped a bit; I wanted the magic of the movie in one sitting. It's not a long book, after all; it's not a trilogy like Lord of the Rings. Why not just make one longish movie (you KNOW we'd sit for even 5 hours for it all)? Then...I heard...it was being split into three parts. And with that decision, I just lost all interest in seeing it in a theater. It instantly became, "I'll wait years for them to all be released on DVD and dedicate a Saturday to seeing it all in a sitting."
In part, I feel this way because it's one book, so it seems best to make it one movie to get that feeling all at once. But more than that, it feels like...someone going through my pockets, looking for my wallet. The older I get, the more than kind of thing bothers me.
The studio and Peter Jackson KNOW people will show up, even if it was spread out over SIX movies. Hell, some people would probably prefer that. I get the anticipation of "There is more coming..." But again, it's not a big book; it seems like it could have been done in one movie. Maybe it's because George Lucas and people who've followed have tried hooking people into buying the same thing over and over, or dragging something out in an attempt to make more money. I might be wrong...maybe The Hobbit merits three parts (or more). I WILL watch all three parts when they are on DVD.
Normally, I'm not one to listen to reviews. But my fear with The Hobbit, once I heard it was being split into three movies, was that it would drag on. I've seen the "OMG!!! IT'S WONDERFUL AND I CAN'T WAIT FOR MORE!!!" but I've seen more reviews along the lines of "Slow and long..."
The first reaction is the one I'm sure Jackson and the studio were hoping for. As one who is a geek for many things, I get it. I always want that shared experience of, "Isn't this great?!" "Hell yeah, it's the best!!!" and when it happens, it's such a fun experience. I can even understand that if you feel that from the first part of The Hobbit, you get that two more times. And that's kind of wonderful.
Maybe I'll break down and see the first part in the theater. Maybe all my fears will be realized, or maybe I'll become one of many who can't wait for the next parts. Maybe it merits three parts, but there's that side of me -- at least right now -- that feels like it was broken up to make more money, not to be the best film it could be.
I hope I'm wrong.