Hobbitses
We went to see The Hobbit last night. For context: I love all three Lord of the Rings movies, enough to watch them 3 or 4 times each in the cinema, and to watch pretty much every single extra on the extended edition DVDs. I do have niggles, but they're mostly aesthetic - green, sploshy Dead with their popcorn skulls, unfeasibly enormous elephants, catapults that can hurl half a house, and elves that speak... so... very... sloooooowly.
I certainly didn't dislike it. There was plenty in there than I liked, and the three hours passed quickly enough. However, I left the cinema feeling rather "meh," as opposed to the Lord of the Rings movies, when I left buoyed up by a wave of emotion and a feeling of "I must see that again!"
I generally like action scenes when they involve swords, pretty clothes and flowing hair, but I got rather bored of all the action scenes in which a mass of dwarves (rendered indistinguishable by the swooshing camera) went "whaaa!" as they were hurled around in situations that ought to have killed them hours ago. I would have preferred to lose some of the cartoon action, in return for a bit longer introducing or showcasing each dwarf so more of them were distinguishable.
I didn't feel that the visuals were as good as in the previous films, looking somewhat muddy and out of focus, but it could be that I'm misrembering what they looked like on the big screen ten years ago. Howard Shore's music has always played a large role in my enjoyment of these films, so it was great to hear familiar themes reworked, and new themes added. One of my favourite moments was the singing of the Misty Mountains song in Bag End.
I enjoyed many of the humorous moments, but could have done without the Disneyfied "cute" animals, even when they're hedgehogs.
I would have preferred the film to feel more "real," rather than shouting out "LOOK AT MY COOL 3D CAMERA WORK!" all the time.
Random points:
- I've seen several people say that the cartoony action scenes were a deliberate attempt to appeal to computer gamers. This comparison makes no sense to me. I play computer games because I want to get involved and actually do things, so nothing whatsoever in a non-interactive film is likely to appeal to the part of me that likes playing games.
- I always called them Fylie and Kylie. This was long before Kylie Minogue, of course. A dwarf called Filly sounds rather silly too, though, but so does Feely. Maybe there's just no sensible way to pronounce them. But I do like the idea of Kylie the dwarf.
- The anti-piracy adverts make much of the communal viewing experience of cinema-going, but I'd happily pay good money to avoid communal sharing of munching, crunching and bag crunkling, usually done in the quietest of moments.
Finally, most people on my Friends list who have expressed a preference thus far have specifically sought out the 2D version. Therefore, out of interest:
Poll 3D
I certainly didn't dislike it. There was plenty in there than I liked, and the three hours passed quickly enough. However, I left the cinema feeling rather "meh," as opposed to the Lord of the Rings movies, when I left buoyed up by a wave of emotion and a feeling of "I must see that again!"
I generally like action scenes when they involve swords, pretty clothes and flowing hair, but I got rather bored of all the action scenes in which a mass of dwarves (rendered indistinguishable by the swooshing camera) went "whaaa!" as they were hurled around in situations that ought to have killed them hours ago. I would have preferred to lose some of the cartoon action, in return for a bit longer introducing or showcasing each dwarf so more of them were distinguishable.
I didn't feel that the visuals were as good as in the previous films, looking somewhat muddy and out of focus, but it could be that I'm misrembering what they looked like on the big screen ten years ago. Howard Shore's music has always played a large role in my enjoyment of these films, so it was great to hear familiar themes reworked, and new themes added. One of my favourite moments was the singing of the Misty Mountains song in Bag End.
I enjoyed many of the humorous moments, but could have done without the Disneyfied "cute" animals, even when they're hedgehogs.
I would have preferred the film to feel more "real," rather than shouting out "LOOK AT MY COOL 3D CAMERA WORK!" all the time.
Random points:
- I've seen several people say that the cartoony action scenes were a deliberate attempt to appeal to computer gamers. This comparison makes no sense to me. I play computer games because I want to get involved and actually do things, so nothing whatsoever in a non-interactive film is likely to appeal to the part of me that likes playing games.
- I always called them Fylie and Kylie. This was long before Kylie Minogue, of course. A dwarf called Filly sounds rather silly too, though, but so does Feely. Maybe there's just no sensible way to pronounce them. But I do like the idea of Kylie the dwarf.
- The anti-piracy adverts make much of the communal viewing experience of cinema-going, but I'd happily pay good money to avoid communal sharing of munching, crunching and bag crunkling, usually done in the quietest of moments.
Finally, most people on my Friends list who have expressed a preference thus far have specifically sought out the 2D version. Therefore, out of interest:
Poll 3D