A film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy masterpiece had been floating around ever since Peter Jackson finished filming The Lord of the Rings trilogy. But the idea of a Hobbit movie was seeming more and more unlikely. Rumors were floating around and it essentially became one of the most notorious film teases for nearly 10 years! At one time the film was said to be directed by Guillermo Del Toro. But after years of deliberation, Jackson finally said that The Hobbit would finally make its way to the big screen!
But there was a catch or two. It was announced that Tolkien's prequel to The Lord of the Rings that was half the size of The Fellowship of the Ring would be turned into three separate films. This launched an uproar on internet message boards all around the globe. "How could they turn one tiny book into three separate films rounding out to roughly a total of nine hours altogether?!?" Fanboys were both baffled and unnerved by this.
But there was another catch! Jackson also said that the trilogy would be filmed in 48 frames per second. The filming style would "make the viewing experience like you were actually there." Oh, and it would also be in 3-D because for some odd reason 3-D became popular again. I blame Spy Kids 3.
So with all the hype, anticipation, and nervousness surrounding the film, did it end up being any good? That is a grey area for some people.
Before the film premiered, a poster was released of all 13 dwarves huddled together. From that photo alone you could predict the films' distinctly different tone from the Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit was going to be more "kid-friendly". And that was a problem for many fans, but I understood the tonal change because since The Hobbit book is more kid friendly than the Rings trilogy. Being a prequel, the book was supposed to serve as a means to ease children into The Lord of the Rings.
That being said, there are some scenes that were a bit too goofy and kiddish even for me. For example: The scene in the mountain when the Goblin King is singing and dancing I felt was a bit too much. I even felt that the scene with the trolls, which in the book was very comical, pandered a bit too much to juvenile, middle-school humor.
Aside from the tonal difference, the visual effects were the second major difference from The Lord of the Rings. While the Rings trilogy went the Men In Black route, perfectly blending an even amount of practical effects and CGI, The Hobbit relies heavily on CGI. Which does make sense considering technology has advanced 10+ years since Return of the King and CGI has become more and more relied upon in major motion pictures. But I feel that there were some sequences that could have been done practically over the use of computers.
Even though I sound like I didn't like the effects, I really did enjoy them! The people over at WETA are the kings of CGI and everything looks very grand and impressive. For the first time in 10 years, Gollum returned to the big screen and he has never looked better! The "Riddles in the Dark" scene was my favorite part in the book and I adored every single second Bilbo and Gollum conversed with each other.
But perhaps the biggest issue the film suffers from is the pacing. Which is and issue that The Lord of the Rings films never suffered from because I have and will never complain about their total nine hour run time. With The Hobbit, there were many sequences that I felt could have been cut out of the theatrical cut. Like the meeting at Rivendell I felt was completely unnecessary. To me, that scene was about as boring as Corusant was in The Phantom Menace.
The film also takes almost 45 minutes for the actual journey to head on the road. All that time was either spent with the prologue or in Bilbo's house. While many hated that aspect, I loved all the time that took place in Bilbo's house! Not only did it introduce us to all the dwarves, but it was just so great to see The Shire again! That is probably the biggest reason I enjoyed this film so much despite its evident flaws. It was just so wonderful going back to Middle Earth. And the action scenes, while they do take a while to get to, are fantastic! The chase scene in the mountain was one of the most well directed action scenes in all of last year! It was fun, entertaining, intense, super fast and it was awesome! It could have used at least two more scenes like that scattered throughout though.
As for the 3-D and 48fps, I can't say anything about it because I am silently boycotting 3-D because I am getting really sick of it. But maybe I will end up seeing the final Hobbit film in 3-D. But that is a year away so anything could happen.
Final Report: While it takes some time to fully get moving and it does encounter a few bumps in the road, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is still a grand, masterful epic and welcome return to Middle Earth. Even if it doesn't obtain the level of greatness that The Lord of the Rings reached, I still love it.
No comments:
Post a Comment