by Aeroprism » Sun Jan 6, '13, 11:13 pm
My own personal opinion: (No spoilers).
I'm a huge, huge fan of Tolkien AND of the movie adaptations. I have no problem seeing them as two completely different entities, both with their flaws and merits. When Jackson announced he was to make three movies with only one book that by itself was even shorter than a LOTR book, many people screamed "all you want is more money!" I was among those who answered "This man can turn anything to awesome, therefore all I see is thrice the potential for fun. 9 hours of entertainment for what... 30$? Take my money please!"
I was wrong. This movie is a very decent fantasy flick but a poor Tolkien adaptation (based on what Jackson already delivered).
The Hobbit: an unexpected journey, to me, felt long, silly and sometimes even tedious. It's basically LOTR for kids, which is not to be unexpected (oh the wit) because the book WAS Tolkien's attempt to write a book for children. That said, this is not where my gripe lies.
There are many small things that annoyed me. I did not like the numerous combat scenes. In the LOTR movies, Jackson directed the battles and they felt clean, short and epic. You can remember every arrow shot by Legolas or every blow dealt by Aragorn, Eomer and such. In this movie, the battles were directed by Andy Serkis. Basically: 13 dwarves in a chaotic melee against 100+ orcs/goblins. It was... hard to follow.
None of the characters impressed me. In LOTR, among many extremely loveable or unforgettable characters, there was only one dwarf: Gimli. John Rhys Davies depicted him wonderfully, although a tad too far on the comic-relief for my tastes. In Bilbo's movie, you have 13 of them. I personally really love the dwarven race. Their lore fascinates me. I love how they fight, their resilience, their stubbornness, their axes and ales. They're like short, fuzzy Canadians! I did not care that much for Bilbo's dwarves. Thorin, Kili and Fili are basically short dudes with some facial hair. Really. They don't look like dwarves. They look like... well, short humans. The ten others which you will promptly forget for their role is next to nil, are worthy of Snow White's entourage. Huge noses, floppy ears and other ridiculous facial features. It's as if Gimli came from a completely different race.
Bilbo? Well, Martin Freeman did a good job making him... Hobbitesque. While I always understood that they were vital to the story, I didn't care for Hobbits much in the LOTR trilogy. I didn't care for Bilbo much either so, he was faithful to the job.
I really love wizards. In my D&D years, everything I played or did was wizardesque. Gandalf was almost true to his self. In the LOTR movie, he is wall depicted as an adviser, a sage and a mentor. In Bilbo... well... I think he was used as a Deux Ex Machina a few times too many. He also feels younger and more immature, which is a bit silly considering that 60 years of difference in a lifespan of several thousand should be inconsequential. Saruman was boring, borderline pointless. Radagast annoyed me in general. I know that Tolkien wrote that Radagast was a tad "simple-minded" but what Jackson did was... too much. Can't say more without spoilers.
Gollum was brilliant. Serkis is an awesome, awesome actor. Seriously. The highlight of the movie: the riddle game, all because of Gollum.
The scenery as usual was breath-taking and the music wass right up there.
The dwarven city was absolutely brilliantly done.
Aaaaaand I guess that's that. When it came out, so long ago, I did not care one bit for "The Fellowship of the Ring" the first time I saw it and now I love it so, I'm not too worried. The extended edition usually patches it up by adding story-based info. As long as it's not drawn out because, as I said, my main gripe remains: the movie feels long ans sluggish.
Go see it, most people love it.
As you no doubt have seen in this post, my mistake was to expect another LOTR movie, which is why I constantly bring it on the table for comparison. If you can keep in mind that it's something ELSE than LOTR, you should be just fine.