The Hobbit: My first off-the-cuff reactions!
Just came back from watching The Hobbit. I was smiling with glee as I exited the theatre, - obviously a good sign. The movie wasn't perfect, but I am much less invested in this than I was in LotR, and I thoroughly enjoyed this. Here are my first reactions to the movie, under a cut as there are spoilers...
Good Stuff
The sheer vast epicness of Middle-Earth. The landscapes! The majestic vistas! No-one does this sort of thing like NZ and PJ. Ohhh, it's good to be back!
Elijah's Frodo! Love love love! There was no reason for him to be in the movie except nostalgia all around, but I am plenty nostalgic and this was a treat. <333
Bag End! With that well-stocked larder! And the cosy clutter! And the lovely gardens! And the "No admittance save on Party Business" sign going up! Oh, I love that place. :)
The dwarves' singing. Two iconic scenes/songs in Bag End, very different tenor, pretty much right out of the book, my geeky heart squee'd.
Thorin Oakenshield OMG. I am going to be all choked up and stuff when he kicks the bucket.
The tiny glimpses and hints of Smaug. Eeee. Great teasers for what's to come.
Erebor! Dale! Rivendell! Oh-so-magnificent! I could watch long sequences just of these locations, camera swooping and panning and opening up wonder upon wonder, never mind what's going on.
Elrond - so cool and in command, riding in from his orc-hunting. Every bit as regal, much less grumpy than his later self. He rocks that look and those costumes something fierce.
Galadriel! I love Cate's voice when she's Galadriel. And the mind-speak with Gandalf.
And speaking of Gandalf... Ian McKellen OWNED this!
Saruman! I should have expected it, but I still literally jumped at his appearance.
Radagast's hedgehog, and his rabbit-pulled sleigh. The latter was hilariously wild and silly, but it is yuletide with reindeer pulling sleighs through the air, so I loved it.
Thranduil! Very much like a grave, enigmatic and lofty celtic god on his stag.
The dwarves' enmity towards the elves. Well developed, and made easily understandable and "realistic".
And yes, Martin Freeman's Bilbo. Totally endearing, although at times his character drowned in orcs and goblins and hairy dwarves and CGI and stuff-going-on.
The last few big scenes of the film! Bilbo saving Thorin so bravely, facing down the Evil One And His Warg - and then Thorin's full-hearted gratitude. All of it just a bit OTT and cheesy, and certainly build-up for scenes that we know will come in the third movie, but it all made me grin with glee. (During the early 3 stupid trolls scene I was worried PJ was going to completely undermine the courage of this movie's hero too, given that Bilbo behaved rather stupidly and a bit cowardly there, IMO. But in this film it turned out they used the early failing to contrast the courage that came later - to actually build an *arc* for the main character. Good show, PJ.)
The game of riddles. Perfect. Andy Serkis just excels as Gollum, it's a fantastic dacapo, improving on what we've seen already. I loved every second of Gollum's scenes.
The general faithfulness to the source material.... so much dialogue and little tidbits, scenes, props, and characters lifted right from the book. I see some reviewers finding that boring, but I enjoyed it.
The *meh* not so good stuff
The goblins/wargs/trolls.... their scenes were too, too long, going overboard in elaborate mass spectacles, dwelling lovingly on the "ugly, slavering creatures" and their epic action scenes that last and last and last.
The gross slapstick in the meeting with Bert, Bill and What's-the-third-troll's name? The tone and some of the plot development there are from the book, but it just seemed overly silly given the gravitas of the "wider" story.
Ian Holm's Bilbo. I just thought he looked too photo-shopped, too made-up, and no wonder perhaps. It still looked weird and was distracting.
Galadriel's various "Middle-Earth's Next Supermodel" poses. Unnecessary.
There were very few places were the movie audience laughed spontaneously. The slapstick did not get real laughs, for instance. Maybe some proper humour was missing a little too mcuh?
My jury is still out on Azog. He's obviously a repeat of Lurtz, the Uruk-Hai who killed Boromir... I suppose PJ feels they need a really nasty, powerful, cruel, vindictive but intelligent murderous adversary to up the ante. But I don't know if I agree...
Radagast and the bird droppings. PJ humour in a nutshell. :rolleyes:
Looking forward to the next film and especially to Smaug!!
Good Stuff
The sheer vast epicness of Middle-Earth. The landscapes! The majestic vistas! No-one does this sort of thing like NZ and PJ. Ohhh, it's good to be back!
Elijah's Frodo! Love love love! There was no reason for him to be in the movie except nostalgia all around, but I am plenty nostalgic and this was a treat. <333
Bag End! With that well-stocked larder! And the cosy clutter! And the lovely gardens! And the "No admittance save on Party Business" sign going up! Oh, I love that place. :)
The dwarves' singing. Two iconic scenes/songs in Bag End, very different tenor, pretty much right out of the book, my geeky heart squee'd.
Thorin Oakenshield OMG. I am going to be all choked up and stuff when he kicks the bucket.
The tiny glimpses and hints of Smaug. Eeee. Great teasers for what's to come.
Erebor! Dale! Rivendell! Oh-so-magnificent! I could watch long sequences just of these locations, camera swooping and panning and opening up wonder upon wonder, never mind what's going on.
Elrond - so cool and in command, riding in from his orc-hunting. Every bit as regal, much less grumpy than his later self. He rocks that look and those costumes something fierce.
Galadriel! I love Cate's voice when she's Galadriel. And the mind-speak with Gandalf.
And speaking of Gandalf... Ian McKellen OWNED this!
Saruman! I should have expected it, but I still literally jumped at his appearance.
Radagast's hedgehog, and his rabbit-pulled sleigh. The latter was hilariously wild and silly, but it is yuletide with reindeer pulling sleighs through the air, so I loved it.
Thranduil! Very much like a grave, enigmatic and lofty celtic god on his stag.
The dwarves' enmity towards the elves. Well developed, and made easily understandable and "realistic".
And yes, Martin Freeman's Bilbo. Totally endearing, although at times his character drowned in orcs and goblins and hairy dwarves and CGI and stuff-going-on.
The last few big scenes of the film! Bilbo saving Thorin so bravely, facing down the Evil One And His Warg - and then Thorin's full-hearted gratitude. All of it just a bit OTT and cheesy, and certainly build-up for scenes that we know will come in the third movie, but it all made me grin with glee. (During the early 3 stupid trolls scene I was worried PJ was going to completely undermine the courage of this movie's hero too, given that Bilbo behaved rather stupidly and a bit cowardly there, IMO. But in this film it turned out they used the early failing to contrast the courage that came later - to actually build an *arc* for the main character. Good show, PJ.)
The game of riddles. Perfect. Andy Serkis just excels as Gollum, it's a fantastic dacapo, improving on what we've seen already. I loved every second of Gollum's scenes.
The general faithfulness to the source material.... so much dialogue and little tidbits, scenes, props, and characters lifted right from the book. I see some reviewers finding that boring, but I enjoyed it.
The *meh* not so good stuff
The goblins/wargs/trolls.... their scenes were too, too long, going overboard in elaborate mass spectacles, dwelling lovingly on the "ugly, slavering creatures" and their epic action scenes that last and last and last.
The gross slapstick in the meeting with Bert, Bill and What's-the-third-troll's name? The tone and some of the plot development there are from the book, but it just seemed overly silly given the gravitas of the "wider" story.
Ian Holm's Bilbo. I just thought he looked too photo-shopped, too made-up, and no wonder perhaps. It still looked weird and was distracting.
Galadriel's various "Middle-Earth's Next Supermodel" poses. Unnecessary.
There were very few places were the movie audience laughed spontaneously. The slapstick did not get real laughs, for instance. Maybe some proper humour was missing a little too mcuh?
My jury is still out on Azog. He's obviously a repeat of Lurtz, the Uruk-Hai who killed Boromir... I suppose PJ feels they need a really nasty, powerful, cruel, vindictive but intelligent murderous adversary to up the ante. But I don't know if I agree...
Radagast and the bird droppings. PJ humour in a nutshell. :rolleyes:
Looking forward to the next film and especially to Smaug!!