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Hobbit lives up to expectations

Devor

Fiery Keeper of the Hat
Moderator
I enjoyed the movie.

It ran a little - I won't say long, but stretched, in a few parts, particularly near the beginning. "That's What Bilbo Baggins Hates" was too predictable for its length - I mean, you watched them cleaning while they sang, so Gandalf's big reveal of a pile of dishes came across as corny. Then there were two expositions back to back - a long one about the pale orc, followed immediately by a short chat about the five wizards. That, and a few other things, made the pacing feel a bit too slow.

There were a couple of other minor things which made it 4-stars for me, but the pacing is the one that hurts rewatch value. I've seen LOTR several times; I don't expect to do so with this one.

Still, definitely worth seeing, and I think it fits three movies fine - just maybe, slightly shorter movies.
 
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Ireth

Myth Weaver
"That's What Bilbo Baggins Hates" was too predictable for its length - I mean, you watched them cleaning while they sang, so Gandalf's big reveal of a pile of dishes came across as corny.

I didn't see it as cleaning up at all -- the dwarves were literally throwing dishes back and forth, so naturally Bilbo freaked out about them being broken.
 

Devor

Fiery Keeper of the Hat
Moderator
I didn't see it as cleaning up at all -- the dwarves were literally throwing dishes back and forth, so naturally Bilbo freaked out about them being broken.

Maybe it's just me, or that I remembered too much from the book. But yeah, they were throwing them . . . and catching them. And there were lots of dish-washing sounds, but not the sound of anything breaking. And it went on long enough for me to consciously notice all that. Of course Bilbo would freak out, but I didn't as a viewer. Again, maybe I remembered too much from the book, but I think on a second viewing it would still feel slow.
 

Jess A

Archmage
Great film, really wish I had seen it in 3D or 48fps - it seemed blurry in parts. But hardly a bother.

Absolutely loved the riddle scene (had been looking forward to that), the stone-giant fight and Barry Humphries' goblin king. The wargs were great. It was a little strange with the plot changes, but the additional stuff from other works was nice added context. Martin Freeman was fantastic and adorable. As much as I adore Richard Armitage and he was great in the film, as someone mentioned above - all the epic shots of Thorin's face were a bit much - I think by about shot ten I started laughing. Really looking forward to seeing Smaug in full. I also loved Radagast, especially his rabbit-drawn sled.

Pity people were talking next to me throughout the entire film. Good thing I was in a more favourable mood than I have been these past two days. If people needed to discuss the book out loud, perhaps they should have taken themselves and their nearly 3-hour-long chat outside.
 
I really liked it, definitely got a different feel to Lord of the Rings.

One thing I didn't like was using the eagles again, maybe its in the book but I mean come on, if you're going to use eagles, use them at the beginning to get to the mountain!?!
 

lawrence

Troubadour
Great film, really wish I had seen it in 3D or 48fps - it seemed blurry in parts. But hardly a bother.

Really looking forward to seeing Smaug in full. I also loved Radagast, especially his rabbit-drawn sled.

Pity people were talking next to me throughout the entire film. Good thing I was in a more favourable mood than I have been these past two days. If people needed to discuss the book out loud, perhaps they should have taken themselves and their nearly 3-hour-long chat outside.

Aww, that's not fair of them, talking during the movie. I am hopeless at ignoring that kind of thing and would have asked them to stop. Drives me crazy, such inconsiderate behaviour!

Yes, the rabbit drawn sled was brilliant! Some reviewers were not so keen, but I thought it in perfect keeping with the children's story tone of the book. Loved the bit where the sled lead rabbit was whacking the ground with his hind-leg to get the team up and running!

I agree about the motion blur in the battles and scenes with lots of figures running, but from what I heard regarding the high frame-rate version, I'd keep the blur in preference to the un-cinematic, tv-movie feel that HFR creates. Its personal taste though.
 

Jess A

Archmage
Aww, that's not fair of them, talking during the movie. I am hopeless at ignoring that kind of thing and would have asked them to stop. Drives me crazy, such inconsiderate behaviour!

Yes, the rabbit drawn sled was brilliant! Some reviewers were not so keen, but I thought it in perfect keeping with the children's story tone of the book. Loved the bit where the sled lead rabbit was whacking the ground with his hind-leg to get the team up and running!

I agree about the motion blur in the battles and scenes with lots of figures running, but from what I heard regarding the high frame-rate version, I'd keep the blur in preference to the un-cinematic, tv-movie feel that HFR creates. Its personal taste though.

Normally I would have chased them out of the theatre.

Because I've never seen anything in 48fps, I honestly couldn't judge - it's a matter of curiosity for me! I may go and see it again if it's still out.
 

Jamber

Sage
Normally I would have chased them out of the theatre.

Sounds like we were sitting on the other side of the same people.

I enjoyed the movie a fair bit, but like some of the reviewers I was disappointed at the added material. Still, it was a good value 3 hours, particularly as it was 42C in the shade. A few weeks later it climbed to 46C... I should have waited to see the movie then. :)
 

Jess A

Archmage
Sounds like we were sitting on the other side of the same people.

I enjoyed the movie a fair bit, but like some of the reviewers I was disappointed at the added material. Still, it was a good value 3 hours, particularly as it was 42C in the shade. A few weeks later it climbed to 46C... I should have waited to see the movie then. :)

A lot of people certainly took refuge in the cinemas during the various heatwaves across the country. The Hobbit came out at a good time, I reckon!
 
I watched it in 3d, so I'm not sure why people are comparing it to a tv film or something, I just hope it still looks good on dvd.

I quite enjoyed the secondary "necromancer" story, I thought the interactions between Gandalf, Saruman, Elrond and Galadriel worked great, just one scene and Saruman showed a lot of depth of character. I thought the Dol Guldur scene was really creepy, and I hope they keep that up because, children's film or not, the necromancer should be creepy. Besides, like a lot of classic children's books, the book itself has got some horror moments to it :).
 

lawrence

Troubadour
I watched it in 3d, so I'm not sure why people are comparing it to a tv film or something, I just hope it still looks good on dvd.

I quite enjoyed the secondary "necromancer" story, I thought the interactions between Gandalf, Saruman, Elrond and Galadriel worked great, just one scene and Saruman showed a lot of depth of character. I thought the Dol Guldur scene was really creepy, and I hope they keep that up because, children's film or not, the necromancer should be creepy. Besides, like a lot of classic children's books, the book itself has got some horror moments to it :).

Its not the 3D that causes that wierd effect, but the high frame rate.

Agree...I really enjoyed the Dol Guldur scene and also the White Council, both very good parts and typically great Peter Jackson story-telling.
 

Konrad

Scribe
Hmmm.

I liked parts of the movie, but had huge problems with other parts...

For example, Radagast has a fast rabbit sled, but he covers an awful lot of ground in a day, I guess, zipping from Mirkwood to the dwarves at Mach 5 or so. Then there was Azog and the orcs, who make the Uruk hai of the prevous series look likethey will get plenty of sand kicked in their faces at the beach. Then there were the rock 'em, sock 'em stone giants (although that part was pretty cool).

I think what we really had was Peter Jackson coming in to save a project that he was not happy with under Del Toro. Del Toro dropping out of a project like that would typically cause a starburst of lawsuits (in my current position I know a bit about this), but instead he left The Hobbit, saying he was just too busy with other projects. I call BS on that. But by this time you probably had quite a bit of the film, set design, story boards, costume design and virtual scenes completed. You also had (what I thought) were some very long and drawn out action scenes, a couple which looked very Del Toro-esque. (And didn't the orcs and Azog remind you a bit of Hellboy?).

Then Jackson comes in. More sentimental and much more "British traditional (although he is from New Zealand)" in his sense of fantasy. He basically takes half a film or more and molds it back to his vision. What you have is a film that is a bit schizo. I think I would have rather seen this film made by one director or the other. It's not bad, but not quite what I think it could have been. However, Jackson has had more time for the next two parts. I figure they will be more consistent and be more impressive.

But what do I know? It's not like I was there... Heh, heh.

K
 

Konrad

Scribe
Hmmm. One other thing still bugs me... the conflict between Bilbo and Thorin appears to be over for now. That's a bit too soon for me. I mean, we still have the spiders, the barrel float, etc.

K
 

saellys

Inkling
Interesting points, Konrad--I didn't think about how far Del Toro's influence went into the production process. Honestly, his filmmaking has never done anything for me, though I've always had mad respect for his visuals and the immersiveness of the experience.

The tension between Thorin and Bilbo was definitely resolved too early, and the dwarves didn't learn what they were supposed to learn. There was a reason Bilbo never fought anyone in the book--the dwarves ended up discovering that being able to hold one's own in battle is not the only measure of character. With Bilbo jumping into the fight at the cliff, I think that message has been lost.
 

Konrad

Scribe
Saellys,

That's what I'm really getting at, I suppose (aside from the old "too many cooks spoil the stew" mantra). I've never been a Del Toro fan at all. But worse than the fact that some parts of the film truly ignored logic is the resolved tension issue. If I were the screen writer for the next two parts, I would have a hard time getting over that hump... And I think they generally will.

Hope not though.

K
 
I thought it was a bit over the top putting the burning trees sequence on the edge of a cliff which, surprise, starts to crumble. As those who read the book will know they have enough trouble and tension stuck up burning trees surrounded by orcs and wargs without also being put on a precarious edge. It just felt very unecersarry.
 
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