The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Review Thread (Spoilers)

[Grand Bob]

Originally Posted by Dubstar

oh that's very helpful thanks - guess I should catch up on the Unfinished Tales book now.

Unfinished Tales is an odd book that contains "seeds" or the background of other Middle-earth stories. With regard to the Hobbit movie (and the events occurring at that time that Jackson may use), chapters of interest include: 'The Quest of Erebor', which is Gandalf's account of how he came to persuade Thorin to take Bilbo on the quest, 'The Hunt for the Ring', which details activities of the Nazgul, and 'The Istari', which is the most detailed description that Tolkien gives concerning the Wizards. For example, in the movie

[Show spoiler] Gandalf indicates that the reason he chose Bilbo is because Smaug (the dragon) is not familiar with his smell, a point derived from 'TQoE', along with the fact that (next to the Elves) hobbits are the stealthiest creatures in Middle-earth, and Bilbo would not be afraid to offer differing points of view compared to Thorin (the other dwarves will unquestionably accept Thorin's whims).

Also of interest are Appendices A and B at the end of The Lord of the Rings, which Jackson has cited as the reason for making three movies. Thus far, little of the storyline has been extracted from these appendices. For those interested in more background material, The Annotated Hobbit, with annotations by Douglas Anderson, is an excellent source of supporting material. 'The Quest for Erebor' is included as an appendix to that book.

[beadelf]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Why is the poll closed?

probably waiting for the third film to come out

[beadelf]

Originally Posted by Grand Bob

That was also my thought, and if they would have placed some more characters like him at

[Show spoiler] the White Council (along with some meaningful dialog), it would have given more validity to that scene and bumped the quality of the movie up a notch. I'm anxious to see if the excellent choice of Elvish characters continues in the next film when we see the Elvenking's realm in Mirkwood. I'm still not sure what Boyens is referring to regarding the back story of "Tauriel", but it looks like we'll have to wait another year to find out what that is all about. At least we have an idea of what to expect the Elvish army to look like in the third film, which the art, costume, and make-up departments have done a superb job with, as they did in the Fellowship prologue. I also thought the wargs were more "warg-like" in this movie than their counterparts in The Two Towers.

As for the orcs, I thought their appearance was superior to most of the orcs portrayed in the LotR films, although there were also some stand-outs in those films, for example the Uruk-hai and the mean-looking task-master fellow in Mordor (Return of the King EE) that singles out Frodo and Sam (dressed like orcs) from the rest of the pack. The Great Goblin was inventive and OK, but a little over the top. Also, I thought the language used by the orcs in this film was more advanced (and a scribe?) than one would expect. From the Appendices:

"It is said that they [Orcs] had no language of their own, but took what they could of other tongues and perverted it to their own liking; yet they made only brutal jargons, scarcely sufficient even for their own needs, unless it were for curses and abuse."

But, maybe I'm being too picky.

your picky about everything

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Buddy Ackerman

Where was Bilbo announcing "This is the last time I shall embark on AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY!"?

Wasn't that just before the title appears, when Bilbo says the events were quite....unexpected?

Originally Posted by spanky87

Isn't it strange that the Frodo/Old Bilbo footage ends around the time the main narrative for FOTR begins? Wouldn't it have been more fitting for Part 3?

Not really--Old Bilbo had finished his book near the middle of FOTR, when he was summer-vacationing at Rivendell, so that intro will probably be used for Part 3.

Originally Posted by jbig31

6. Out of the Frying Pan....

[Show spoiler]Kind of disappointed with this entire scene. I wish Jackson would have went more along the storyline from the book, his whole Azog storyline threw that out the window. Why couldn't he have just let the pursuing goblins tree the dwarves and set fires around them like in the book?

!

Yeah, and besides, the Rankin-Bass version kept the original Tolkien lyrics:

[Show spoiler]

Fifteen birds - the Hobbit - YouTube

[Mahatma]

I wish that they get a panningshot (like PJ is fond of) of the vastness of mirkwood when they approach it.Wonder how dark they will shoot it/render it judging by the riddle in the dark scene in the first movie?Hopefully not that light.

Am actually more excited for the second movie than I was up to the first. Is it only me who thinks the acting in the Hobbit was better than LotR?Agree with the one who said Freeman was a perfect choice.

[Grand Bob]

Originally Posted by beadelf

your picky about everything

It's a burden.

[Member-115369]

I liked the movie a lot, but probably a tad less than I was expecting. From Rivendell on it was mostly great, before that it drug some and got a little too silly at times (Trolls etc.). Riddles in the Dark scene was great, battle with the Goblins was great as well--though the Great Goblin was kind of lame.

I guess my main gripe/nitpick is I was hoping that with all the additions the tone would be more similar to the LOTR movies, rather than being more light hearted like the children's book it's based on. But they went with kind of a weird mix of being pretty kiddy in places, then having beheadings in the next scene etc. so the tone felt kind of off/mixed. But again, I still enjoyed it and need to see it again.

As for the 48FPS 3D, I wasn't a big fan. On the one hand I liked how it made the 3D look clearer, rather than dim and a bit blurry like I find most 3D. But on the other hand I felt like the movie was in slight fast forward the whole time (especially wide panning shots or someone walking--like Bilbo through Bag End in the beginning). I also felt it made a lot of sets/special effects seem fake--though I'll need to watch in 2D to see if it was the HFR/3D causing that for me. But I'm guessing it is just a result of the added clarity from the HFR. So I found that distracting and need to go see it again in 2D--and I'll most likely just see the next 2 in 2D.

Nitpicks aside, I'm really looking forward to the next 2. This one really picked up after Rivendale, and I'm guessing the next 2 will continue that with Smaug's attack, the stuff they've added with Azog continuing, the white council attacking Dol Goldur, the Battle of Five Armies etc. Lot's to look forward to now that the characters are introduced and the story set up

[Folldock]

Why is the poll closed?

[kurtlingle]

Originally Posted by Folldock

Why is the poll closed?

It's finally open!

I voted 4 stars as I really liked this movie. Hoping that the next 2 are just as good or better!

[Josh]

Sorry for the delay on getting the poll opened. At first I couldn't figure out how to add the thing (still can't) and then I couldn't open it. My fault entirely. Diesel was nice enough to give me a hand, so please go and vote.

[R3P0]

Originally Posted by Josh

Sorry for the delay on getting the poll opened. At first I couldn't figure out how to add the thing (still can't) and then I couldn't open it. My fault entirely. Diesel was nice enough to give me a hand, so please go and vote.

Yeah but it was probably better that it went this way prevents the initial reading of reviews and just voting that some would do.

[L-Rouge]

4.5/5 round up to 5.

[silversnake]

Hated it.

I thought the pacing was incredibly slow. The first 90 mins were painful. The action was over the top at times and unnecessary and there were lots of childish elements to it that I was not expecting. (Similar to ewoks in ROTJ) Lots of backtracking and it felt like it was just extra long to setup the other 2 movies.

This was my first venture into middle earth and it will be my last.

I could see how some people would like it but it just wasn't for me.

[radagast]

Originally Posted by Witch King of Angmar

@radagast: Did you like the hobbit? What's your rating out of 10? Just curious.

Overall, yes. I didn't like how my namesake was portrayed though.

[Velmeran]

Originally Posted by L-Rouge

4.5/5 round up to 5.

Same for me.

[jbig31]

Originally Posted by Grand Bob

Unfinished Tales is an odd book that contains "seeds" or the background of other Middle-earth stories. With regard to the Hobbit movie (and the events occurring at that time that Jackson may use), chapters of interest include: 'The Quest of Erebor', which is Gandalf's account of how he came to persuade Thorin to take Bilbo on the quest, 'The Hunt for the Ring', which details activities of the Nazgul, and 'The Istari', which is the most detailed description that Tolkien gives concerning the Wizards. For example, in the movie

[Show spoiler] Gandalf indicates that the reason he chose Bilbo is because Smaug (the dragon) is not familiar with his smell, a point derived from 'TQoE', along with the fact that (next to the Elves) hobbits are the stealthiest creatures in Middle-earth, and Bilbo would not be afraid to offer differing points of view compared to Thorin (the other dwarves will unquestionably accept Thorin's whims).

Also of interest are Appendices A and B at the end of The Lord of the Rings, which Jackson has cited as the reason for making three movies. Thus far, little of the storyline has been extracted from these appendices. For those interested in more background material, The Annotated Hobbit, with annotations by Douglas Anderson, is an excellent source of supporting material. 'The Quest for Erebor' is included as an appendix to that book.

I agree GB, Unfinished Tales is a great book. Period. Lots of "seeds".

[frogmort]

Now that the poll is open, I'm not exactly sure what to pick.

If I voted according to how good the movie was based on my expectations of what it would be, I would probably go with a 3~4, because it has a lot of the extraneous fluff that I expected, but a decent seasoning of direct quotes and references from the book.

If I voted based off of how well they fulfilled the potential available to bring the book (and appendices) to life, I would probably vote a 2, but there's a lot of story left to go.

I need to see it again to really decide, but I don't recall any scenes in this movie that brought the pages of the book to life, like the iconic scene with the Balrog at the bridge of Khazad-dûm in FotR.

If I rated the HFR 48fps 3D, it would vary from 1 to 5 because some scenes looked like a video game, some scenes looked slightly sped up, and some scenes looked glorious.

[EricJ]

One thing I never realized until YouTube:
In the Dwarves' party scene, they used Tolkien's original source for "That's what Bilbo Baggins hates":

J.R.R. Tolkien & The Dwarf Cast singing BLUNT THE KNIVES - YouTube

(One of my favorite parts of the book as a kid, so was watching carefully how it would be Jackson-ized.)

[bam777]

Did anyone else receive these awesome limited edition 3D glasses for THE HOBBIT when they saw the film? These are simple but so cool. I got them at a local Cinemark theater. Cool collector's item.

[Mahatma]

Originally Posted by frogmort

Now that the poll is open, I'm not exactly sure what to pick.

If I voted according to how good the movie was based on my expectations of what it would be, I would probably go with a 3~4, because it has a lot of the extraneous fluff that I expected, but a decent seasoning of direct quotes and references from the book.

If I voted based off of how well they fulfilled the potential available to bring the book (and appendices) to life, I would probably vote a 2, but there's a lot of story left to go.

I need to see it again to really decide, but I don't recall any scenes in this movie that brought the pages of the book to life, like the iconic scene with the Balrog at the bridge of Khazad-dûm in FotR.

If I rated the HFR 48fps 3D, it would vary from 1 to 5 because some scenes looked like a video game, some scenes looked slightly sped up, and some scenes looked glorious.

Go with a the holiday spirit and put in a banker 4

You knew about the goofyness going in,so can't say you had no warning there.I felt it was good entertainment,and most of the deveations from the book was pretty good choices-apart maybe from that anemic dude with a hook for an arm.But we come to expect such things from PJ now don't we.