Hobbit the Movie

strangerep

Nah, he's only 195 at the time of The Hobbit.
That's only middle-aged for a dwarf... :-)

[Oh, I'm so embarrassed that I actually know that...]

Jack21222

I watched the movie tonight, and it was a good, fun movie. The scenes with Radagast were hilarious.

nitsuj

please post back when you have seen the movie.

I would like to know how you feel about the comparison between literature & motion picture.

rodsika

Has anyone seen the 3d 48fps version? If I'd watch it, it will be solely to experience what's it's like to see 48fps in movies, it's supposed to be the first movie that offers the experience

Borg

Saw the Hobbit yesterday and enjoyed it very much. My wife isn't really into it but went with me anyway. When the movie ended, she was confused and said "that's it?". I replied that this is the first of three parts. Her reply? NOOOOOO!

arildno

dumb woman.
My mom is much smarter than your wife.
Moms tend to be smarter, in general.

Jack21222

My girlfriend had a very similar reaction.

dipole

I saw it two days ago, and I was horribly dissapointed...

I can't believe intelligent members of the PF community are praising the movie. Perhaps they've never read the book or don't care for integrity.

Peter Jackson basically has completely corrupted Tolkien's work and made it into his own story. I'm so disgusted with it I doubt I'll watch either of the next two.

Ryan_m_b

Since when did intelligence and personal taste go hand in hand?

I saw it last night and was ambivalent about it. Two main things hindered my enjoyment: the more childlike style (though admittedly The Hobbit was a children's book) and gratuitous CGI. With regards to the latter it was mainly things like the animals in the forest (why CGI a dead rabbit?) and the orcs which had far more of an impact in the other films when they were actors with cosmetics. The CGI orcs seemed too cartoony and didn't conjure up any real sense of fear or gravitas for me. That and the CGI seemed sub-standard, perhaps because it was so heavily used.

Janus

If you are talking about much of the extra material in the move, that, in fact, uses Tolkien's work as its source material. For instance, the story of the battle at Moria's gate and how Thorin earned the name "Oakenshield" is part of Tolkien's history of Middle Earth.

The meeting where Gandolf, expresses his concerns over the Necromancer, while not mentioned in "The Hobbit", did take place at during that time of the story according to Tolkien. In fact, this is the reason that he gives for Gandolf being absent for a good part of the book; He, and rest of the White Council have gone off to deal with that threat.

So essentially, What Jackson is doing is integrating in events that happened during the time of "Hobbit" in order to tell the larger story. Setting the dwarves and Bilbo off to deal with Smaug was in fact just one part of a plan being executed by Gandolf.

I'm not saying that Jackson hasn't taken some liberties (for instance Azog, the white Goblin was killed at the Battle of Azanulbizar, and it Gandolf and not Radagast that goes to Dul Gulder.), But I think I can understand why some of these changes were made for the film. (He did the same thing with the "Lord of the Rings"; Sometimes having one character do something that was done by another in the books.)

turbo

A well-reasoned critique. I have to hand it to film-makers that can bring complex print to screen. (Dune comes to mind.)

arildno

Just a nerdy note:
Gandalf's trip to Dol Guldur was long before he met Thorin.
On that trip, Gandalf ascertained that it was, indeed, Sauron who was lurking about in the fortress, and found a mad dwarf who had forgotten his name, but impressed upon Gandalf to give his son a key and a map. That dwarf was Thrain, Thorin's father (Sauron had taken the great dwarven ring Thror had given Thrain just before the battle at the Gates of Moria).
So, at the time of The Hobbit, the White Council was aware of Sauron's whereabouts, but due to (already corrupted) Saruman's stallings, no effective action was taken. Once Saruman found hopes to find the One Ring in the Anduin, however, Sauron had to be driven away, so that Saruman's minions, rather than Sauron's, would be the ones to find it. Thus, he consented at last, to Gandalf's insistence that an attack should be launched on Dol Guldur.
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I think Jackson has made an intelligent re-working of this part of the tale, although it most definitely changes the relative merits and roles of the different wizards involved.

Greg Bernhardt

I saw it today. Granted I haven't read the book in about ten years, I found the movie well done and entertaining. I think once all three are out, it will be high acclaimed. It's really hard to make three movies from one book. I can see why some didn't like it due to the setting up and the content split. But I am patient.

Jack21222

That's why they're adding in a lot of stuff from things like Unfinished Tales and the Silmarillion. Even then, there is quite a bit of padding. An Ars Technica article puts it thus:

http://arstechnica.com/staff/2012/12...ected-journey/

Jimmy Snyder

As others have said, the movie contains stories that are not found in the book, but rather in other books. In addition, even when the story is from the book, it is altered in various ways. However, there is one deviation in particular that I think unwise. The book is about Bilbo. The name of the book isn't "A Hobbit", it's "The Hobbit", and Bilbo is the hobbit. Gandalf tells the dwarfs (and the reader) that there is more to Bilbo than meets the eye. As the book progresses, the dwarfs come to respect him more and more. That respect is fickle though and grows in fits and starts throughout the book. How is that going to happen now that Bilbo has saved Thorin's life, a scene that is not in the book?

Feodalherren

Absolutely terrible. I didn't enjoy it at all. Way too long.

strangerep

ISTM, the world is divided into people who comprehend and appreciate the towering magnitude of J.R.R Tolkien's achievements, and those who can't/don't. The former will deeply appreciate a long movie. As for the others... well, I don't care about the others... :-)