Mud’s Movie Mini-Review: The Hobbit part 1
Mud’s Movie Mini-Review: The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey
Warning: contains some minor spoilers
I saw this (the 3D 24fps version) last night having re-read the novel a few weeks ago in preparation. You may recall the first three Lord of the Rings movies were generally well received, despite some criticism from hardcore fans of the books who didn’t like the deviations from the books. Personally I was mostly fine with the first films, as they kept very much in the spirit of the books and at least some of the artistic licence exercised by Peter Jackson removed content from the books that was, frankly, a bit silly. This is the first of three Hobbit movies. Turning one book into three movies has raised a few eyebrows as The Hobbit is a much shorter book that the LotR series and many have concluded it is a transparent attempt to rake in three times the money. While this may or may not be true, The Hobbit does cover a lot of ground despite its short length, and in any case I’m quite happy to have three times as much entertainment.
*Spoilers* The film covers the book from the start to the part where the party is rescued by eagles. It has to be said that Peter Jackson has deviated far more from the original in this film than he did in the LotR films. In many cases I think this is OK, although he has added some material that I don’t think was necessary. For example, Jackson has felt the need to re-create the giant white orc who barely rated a mention in the book as a major bad guy, presumably because the film would have lacked a central baddie without it. Worse, he has pushed Bilbo to centre-stage in very artificial way and not in keeping with Bilbo’s actions in the book. It seems that Jackson also felt it necessary to up the ante in action department, and I felt this went from the sublime to the ridiculous. The scene under the goblin mountain suddenly turned the party of dwarves from a bunch of mostly non-fighters into amazing super-samurai, and overlaid that with absurd Indiana Jones-like scenes on the goblin walkways. The introduction of new content to link the story to the LotR films was also unnecessary and heavy-handed, but could be forgiven to cater for those who hadn’t read the books.
Enough with the negatives. The film filled out its nearly three hour duration very well, with no major slow spots. The visuals, as expected, were little short of spectacular. The acting was excellent, and the humour in particular was very well done and in keeping with the lighter spirit of the book. Despite the many deviations from the book’s plot, the trajectory was the same and key scenes mostly retained their original ambiance and meaning. The battle scenes were as well done as ever (apart from the silly goblin fight), especially the brutal battle between the dwarves and orcs during a background scene. The riddle sequence with Gollum was excellent and convincing.
In summary, I found the film very entertaining but had a few qualms about the director’s overuse of artistic licence. Purists will probably have many complaints, others who have read the book will probably mostly enjoy it as I did, and those who are unfamiliar with the books will probably get a kick out of the many action scenes. One final note: although the book was written as a children’s tale, I would certainly not take small children to this film as it is very violent and the orc and warg (giant wolf) scenes would be quite scary for them.
i tried reading the books as a child, couldnt get my head around it all. Now im too lazy to read the books and will rely on peter jacksons version.
you won’t go too far wrong
Tried reading Lord of the Rings when I was younger, but never got through the first book. I did however, read the Hobbit and I loved it.
A good review there, mud - and I mostly agree with you, although in addition to the escape the goblins walkway scene, I would add the scene with the giants made of mountain fighting as being a bit silly.
I managed to see the film on the London premiere date on dec 14.
I loved the extra tying in of the new movies to the old movies (even though its a prequel) and I got goosebumps when the music came on for the opening scenes.
Really enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to the next ones!
Tried reading Lord of the Rings when I was younger, but never got through the first book. I did however, read the Hobbit and I loved it.
A good review there, mud - and I mostly agree with you, although in addition to the escape the goblins walkway scene, I would add the scene with the giants made of mountain fighting as being a bit silly.
I managed to see the film on the London premiere date on dec 14.
I loved the extra tying in of the new movies to the old movies (even though its a prequel) and I got goosebumps when the music came on for the opening scenes.
Really enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to the next ones!
thanks, cords. Yeah I agree, the mountain giant fight was equally silly. I don’t know why PJ felt the need to do that. Also agree that the music was great. I particularly liked the song the dwarves sang in Bilbo’s house.
I really enjoyed the LoTR movies. I’m looking forward to watching this one as well. I actually had no idea it was going to be a trilogy. Thanks for the review
Here’s my comprehensive review of The Hobbit part 2 (Desolation of Smaug): see above.
I tried to read it but go so stupidly bored i threw it away.
Tried watching and same thing so i deleted it, turns out this stuff isn’t my thing haha.
yeah fair call, Deano, the book is definitely slow going at times.
I tried to read it but go so stupidly bored i threw it away.
Tried watching and same thing so i deleted it, turns out this stuff isn’t my thing haha.
Never tried reading it!
I did get dragged to the first night of LoTR when I lived in Winter Park.
Having just got off a long haul flight i remember thinking halfway through the epically long movie thinking…
“stop the plane i want to get off”
I remember loving watch a grown male friend of mine shit himself when the horse bucked…
Only scene of the film I remember… after that I may have fallen asleep!
I thought Part 2 was wayyyyy better than part 1. Loved it, actually!
Only one sort of ridiculously silly scene and it didn’t go for too long so I still found it entertaining.
yeah fair call, Deano, the book is definitely slow going at times.
Have you read the Game Of Thrones books yet?
I got 100 pages into the first one and put it down. Way to slow and it was annoying to read in olde english speak!
I love reading books (admittedly dont get all that much of a chance that much these days, mostly when i fly) but this series and the LOTR shit me to tears!
yeah fair call, Deano, the book is definitely slow going at times.
Have you read the Game Of Thrones books yet?
Nah, unfortunately I don’t get much of a chance to read these days. Truth be know, I haven’t even watched the series yet.