Minor Axis
Well-Known Member
I broke down and saw the Hobbit today in 2D...A disappointing experience.
There is no way this story should be 3 movies. You ever watch one of those director's cut movies where all the missing scenes are added and you prefer the original because the editing is tight? This is how I felt, although in this case it's the original story I miss. I feel that the story was diluted by the extra material and it was negatively impacted. I also felt that Peter Jackson tied the story too much into Lord of the Rings, the same music, extra LOTR characters that were not in The Hobbit, and the same treatment of action and what I consider to be over-the-top action sequences as applied to this story. Technically it was adequate, but I expected something with a different feel from LOTR, just because the book feels very much different than the LOTR series. It (The Hobbit) is much lighter in nature. I wish Del Toro had directed it because he might have come closer to achieving the book experience.
Prepare yourself for my rambling...
I really did not like the ending because of it's significant divergence from the story, where the troupe was trapped in the tree tops. In the story, there was no fighting between the dwarves and the orcs, especially on Bilbo's part. And although you can call it artistic license, the fighting of the mountain giants, threatening to knock them off the mountain, and the finale suspense of them being stuck in the tree tops and the trees being knocked over and all of them threatened with going over the cliff was evidence of over-the-top treatment.
You really don't need to see a long sequence with the Brown Wizard. A couple of sentences would have covered what was happening in Mirkwood. It did nothing for the core story. I was disappointed in the Mountain Troll scene, which I remember as being more humorous in the book than as portrayed in the movie. Biblo got them into such a discussion about how best to cook dwarves, they got to arguing and forgot all about time. This scene did not succeed to such an extent that Gandalf was necessary to appear and knock down some rocks so the rising sun would shine on them. We can't have them crossing the mountains and hiding in a cave to get out of the rain. We need this humongous fight between towering rock giants, crumbling the mountain around them. We can't have a door at the back of a cave open, allowing the goblins to capture the dwarves, no the floor has to be a gaint trap door. Instead of living in a plain hole as I pictured it, the Goblins had all sorts of elevated walkways constructed just like the Orcs did in LOTR. We just can't have the group trapped in the tree tops and rescued, no that would be too boring and this is the end of the movie, add some action! They have to nearly go over the edge and then fight the Orcs, which unless I'm remembering it wrong, none of that happened...
I forget exactly what Bilbo did, if it was his handling of the Mountain Trolls or something in the caverns under the Misty Mountains, but Thorin Oakinshield did not decide he liked Bilbo after Bilbo attacked a warg in his defense. Bilbo was prized because of his stealthy nature, you know, being a burglar, and getting the group out of trouble, multiple times.
I'll reemphasize my complaints...OVER THE TOP and lack of fidelity to the story. LOTR was a different story and Jackson did a magnificent job with it. But the Hobbit is very different than LOTR with a magnificent narrative that is COMPLETELY eroded in the movie especially with all the filler material that has been added. The Hobbit is really not LOTR Part 1. It needed a different treatment as an incredibly well written stand alone story, with a very unique and different feel from LOTR. If you've never read the Hobbit, or it's been a long time since you've read the Hobbit, go back and read it. Just sample one chapter, "Over Hill and Under Hill" and I suggest that the stark difference in mood and style might astound you at how much more atmospheric the story is and how lost it is in the movie...
There is no way this story should be 3 movies. You ever watch one of those director's cut movies where all the missing scenes are added and you prefer the original because the editing is tight? This is how I felt, although in this case it's the original story I miss. I feel that the story was diluted by the extra material and it was negatively impacted. I also felt that Peter Jackson tied the story too much into Lord of the Rings, the same music, extra LOTR characters that were not in The Hobbit, and the same treatment of action and what I consider to be over-the-top action sequences as applied to this story. Technically it was adequate, but I expected something with a different feel from LOTR, just because the book feels very much different than the LOTR series. It (The Hobbit) is much lighter in nature. I wish Del Toro had directed it because he might have come closer to achieving the book experience.
Spoilers, Proceed if you dare!
Prepare yourself for my rambling...
I really did not like the ending because of it's significant divergence from the story, where the troupe was trapped in the tree tops. In the story, there was no fighting between the dwarves and the orcs, especially on Bilbo's part. And although you can call it artistic license, the fighting of the mountain giants, threatening to knock them off the mountain, and the finale suspense of them being stuck in the tree tops and the trees being knocked over and all of them threatened with going over the cliff was evidence of over-the-top treatment.You really don't need to see a long sequence with the Brown Wizard. A couple of sentences would have covered what was happening in Mirkwood. It did nothing for the core story. I was disappointed in the Mountain Troll scene, which I remember as being more humorous in the book than as portrayed in the movie. Biblo got them into such a discussion about how best to cook dwarves, they got to arguing and forgot all about time. This scene did not succeed to such an extent that Gandalf was necessary to appear and knock down some rocks so the rising sun would shine on them. We can't have them crossing the mountains and hiding in a cave to get out of the rain. We need this humongous fight between towering rock giants, crumbling the mountain around them. We can't have a door at the back of a cave open, allowing the goblins to capture the dwarves, no the floor has to be a gaint trap door. Instead of living in a plain hole as I pictured it, the Goblins had all sorts of elevated walkways constructed just like the Orcs did in LOTR. We just can't have the group trapped in the tree tops and rescued, no that would be too boring and this is the end of the movie, add some action! They have to nearly go over the edge and then fight the Orcs, which unless I'm remembering it wrong, none of that happened...
I forget exactly what Bilbo did, if it was his handling of the Mountain Trolls or something in the caverns under the Misty Mountains, but Thorin Oakinshield did not decide he liked Bilbo after Bilbo attacked a warg in his defense. Bilbo was prized because of his stealthy nature, you know, being a burglar, and getting the group out of trouble, multiple times.
I'll reemphasize my complaints...OVER THE TOP and lack of fidelity to the story. LOTR was a different story and Jackson did a magnificent job with it. But the Hobbit is very different than LOTR with a magnificent narrative that is COMPLETELY eroded in the movie especially with all the filler material that has been added. The Hobbit is really not LOTR Part 1. It needed a different treatment as an incredibly well written stand alone story, with a very unique and different feel from LOTR. If you've never read the Hobbit, or it's been a long time since you've read the Hobbit, go back and read it. Just sample one chapter, "Over Hill and Under Hill" and I suggest that the stark difference in mood and style might astound you at how much more atmospheric the story is and how lost it is in the movie...
