"The Hobbit", at last!

[wiseheart]

Finally, after 7 weeks of anguish, Mum and I managed to go to the cinema and see "The Hobbit". In 3D and with Hungarian dubbing because that was the only time slot we could squeeze it in. Well... my thoughts are behind the tag.

I was prepared to hate it. I didn't. Actually, with all expectations of canon accuracy firmly banned from my mind, I even enjoyed it. It would have been a lovely fairy tale, if not for the gratutious battle scenes and the constant fighting.

What I liked:

1)MARTIN FREEMAN as Bilbo!!! The guy was beyond amazing. I already admired him as Dr. Watson, but I'm completely smitten with him now.

2) The melancholy singing of the Dwarves at Bilbo's (the second song, I mean, not the plate-breaking insanity, although that was fun, too).

3) Radagast. He was the character I was prepared to hate the most, but guess what? I loved him and his rabbit-sleigh, despite the horrid costume and make-up. He was absolutely loveable. Go figure.

4) Richard Armitage as Thorin. Again, despite my previous expectations. I still think he's too young for the role; they should have put more grey in his hair and given him a bigger beard. But I understand that they needed someone sexy to attract young female viewers. So be it.

5) Balin and Bofur, the only other Dwarves with an actual personality.

4) Dol Guldur. It was suitably creepy.

5) The Wargs. They actually looked like wolves this time, instead of like prehistoric hyaenas as in LOTR.

6) GOLLUM! 'Nuff said.

Things I found okay:

1) Azog. He wasn't really necessary, IMO, but I understand that non-Tolkienite viewers need a main adversary. And they did him well.

2) Elrond. He looked a lot better than in LOTR, wasn't suffering from depressions and even kicked Orc ass. That I still think he was miscast is another matter entirely.

3) Galadriel. Again, she looked better and came over as less as an idiot than in LOTR. Again, she was fairly unnecessary, but they needed at least one female character in the film. And her dresses were stunning.

Things I didn't like:

1) Thrainduil and his stupid Elk. Sorry, it just looked silly.

2) The rest of the Dwarves as poor caricatures.

3) Goblin Town. Too many hanging bridges, too big the whole thing, too long and too ridiculous fight scenes.

4) Rivendell. It's too artificial, too decadent and not really captivating. I didn't like it in LOTR, either, so it's not truly surprising.



All in all, it was an enjoyable film, save the gratutious fighting. Even Mum enjoyed it. The 3D effects didn't do much for us, aside from making us dizzy whenever something appeared to drop off the screen and right onto our heads, but it's a matter of taste, I guess.

I'll be definitely in for the next part.

Comments

[sammydragoncat]

I'm glad your were finally able to see it, and enjoyed watching it.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

It was fun. And it had Martin Freeman at his best. As long as one doesn't expect to find the actual spirit of the original, it's rather enjoyable.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Glad you enjoyed it! We're almost entirely in agreement. I thought it was god fun, but could've done without 15-20 mins of the fighting.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Have you read "Of Fire and Stars" by Ro? It takes place before and during the Battle of Five Armies, and it's one of the very few stories where the Dwarves are treated with respect. Aside from mine, of course. ;)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I haven't - do you have a link?

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Sure! Here you are: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1367103/1/Of-Fire-and-Stars (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1367103/1/Of-Fire-and-Stars).

The grammar is a bit painful (although who am I to criticize ther people in this area?) but it's one of my favourites nonetheless. Ro and I used to talk a lot about Dwarves and exchange ideas. Manyof my original Dwarf characters in "The Book of Mazarbul" were inspired by her gorgeous drawings. Too bad she's somehow vanished in cyberspace quite a few years ago.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this - phew, that's a long one! I'll dip in and out of it. I hope Ro turns up again - perhaps the films might bring her out of cyber-hibernation.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's long - and not for the faint-hearted, either. However, the background work she's done on Dwarves is amazing.

Quite frankly, I'm a bit disappointed how little reaction there was to the Hobbit in all the Tolkien groups I happen to be a member of. I expected a new renessaice of discussions and fanfic, but nothing of the kind seems to have happened.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

A lot of fannish activity seems to have moved to Tumblr. ( www.tumblr.com )

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Which is way too hectic a place for me. Alas, it seems I've become hopelessly old and slow for today's fannish scene.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Me too, although I check a couple of DS9 ones occasionally.

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

Your likes and dislikes pretty much mirror mine (although I didn't mind Thrainduil's Elk mount). Expecting PJ to tone down and shorten the battle scenes appears to be a lost cause, but the rest of the film worked surprisingly well.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Yeah, PJ doesn't seem to realise that it was a children's book, originally. Written for children who didn't play World War III on their computers 24/7.

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

I think PJ is still a little boy at heart, fascinated by explosions and swords and epic battles. He just doesn't see that when a battle scene is too over-the-top or too long, it actually starts boring the viewer and dragging down the pacing of the film.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Mum's reaction was to die for. She told me afterwards:

"I thought I'd be bored. I wasn't. I quite enjoyed the plot. The only things I found boring were all those fighting scenes and those ugly monsters."

She's not into fantasy, not really. But she loved Gollum in the LOTR-trilogy and was happy to see him again.

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

The riddle scene alone was worth the price of the movie ticket. The Dwarves singing in Bag End was just an extra bit of goodness. Who cares about the rest? :D

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, that Dwarven dirge made me shiver, and in a very good way.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

Another try as lj seems to hate me today!

Yay! Glad you got to see it and liked it. It will be fun to see what happens in the later films.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

My guess would be even more gratutious fighting and making fun of the Dwarves.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

That would seem very likely, but hopefully some shiny bits as well. I'm looking forward to seeing Laketown.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

According to the guide booklet I bought in Vienna, it's gonna be a claustrophobic place, with an evil Master. I hope it won't be that bad, but seeing what PJ made of Bree, I won't be surprised if it is.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

That sounds disappointing.... but I suppose the Master being evil was probably inevitable (the films don't seem to go in for much in the way of nuance!)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

True, in both points. I so enjoyed writing Laketown and the Lakemen and the Men of Dale in Web of Darkness that I'll be doubly disappointed if they turn out such a cliché.

That's the frustrating part with the PJ films: they're so genial in some aspects (Gollum! Hobbiton!), but so horrendous in others.

[tyellas.livejournal.com]

I am with you on the elk/moose and the slight decadence of Rivendell. Do try to get to a 2D version, I found it was much easier to see all the delightful details.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Yes, at places the background was really blurry. I intend to buy the DVD when it comes out, so I can lounge on my couch and look up the details by stopping it whenever I want.

[jen-rock.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you finally got to see it and I'm glad you liked it. Martin Freeman did a really great job.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

His facial expressions are to die for. When the Dwarves itnruded his home, I laughed so hard I almost cried.

I already loved him in Sherlock, but here he really got the chance to shine, and I'm happy about that. They also found a rather good Hungarian voice for him, so that wasn't bothersome, either. But I'm looking forward to getting the DVDs and re-watching the whole thing with the original voices.

[rcfinch.livejournal.com]

We´re mostly in agreement, I see, though I´m still wondering how Radagast and his Rhosgobel rabbits managed to cross the Misty Mountains with a sled. I liked Thranduil, but not his moose. But I hated the Goblin Town & Burning Tree scenes so much that they almost killed the second half for me. Fortunately there was the riddle game, which was perfect.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

The whole interpretation of Radagast was a bit off, IMO. I liked his tree house, but the rest of him was fairly ridiculous. Including the rabbit sled. At least that was hilarious. As for crossing the Misty Mountains - PJ showed ignorance for actual distances in M-e in LOTR already. Not to mention the laws of physics. If Éomer and the Rohirrim could ride down the mountanside vertically, why couldn't a few rabbits cross the Misty Mountains in ten minutes? They were enchanted rabbits, right? [/sarcasm]

Thranduil looked like a corpse, IMO. I wonder how will they make up Orlando to look young enough to be his son. The giant elk was an impressive sight, but I was wondering how it was supposed to race with Thrandy after the Giant Spiders? It would get trapped in the first spider web with its antlers and get eaten.

Goblin Town was ridiculous. Plus, it had very strong reminsicences of Saruman's underground facilities. Mum and I were laughing our heads off over all those stupid bridges. I mean, when you dig bloody tunnels under the mountains, you don't make them so huge that you'd need highly impractical and potentially dangerous hanging bridges, right?

Yeah, I know. Coming with logic again. How stupid of me!

[rcfinch.livejournal.com]

Of course! If you are willing to believe in nonsense like dwarves, elves, goblins and trolls, etc., why not suspend belief in the laws of nature and logic as well?

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

As I said: my fault. ;)

[artemis10002000]

I'm not going to read the spoiler cut because I haven't got to see the movie yet (and won't for another two weeks, at least, I really hope it will still be in the cinemas by then) but I'm very happy to hear that you are better and were finally able to watch it!