The Hobbit

I admit, while I did actually manage to suffer through The Hobbit sometime around my middle school years, it never stuck with me. Tolkien's writing was more tedious (he needed to learn how to leave a few things to the imagination) than I could have conceived, so I never pressed on to the rest of the LOTR series. I planned on reading them some day, just not then. And not now. But, when my dad insisted that we see the Fellowship of the Ring when it came out in theaters in 2001, I didn't resist. I'm glad. The Lord of the Rings series has become one of my favorite. . . to watch. It is literally the only major series I watched before considering reading. I loved them because they made sense, even though my dad and now, my husband, assures me: Peter Jackson left out A LOT. So, despite how slightly boring the commercials looked, I was excited to watch The Hobbit.

I'll say this--I've never been more shocked.

The acting was great: Sir Ian McKellen (Gandalf) and Martin Freeman (Young Bilbo) have never let me down yet.  And Richard Armitage was amazing as Thorin. These are all spectacular actors. The CG (aside from the Orks and Wargs) and special effects are awe inspiring. Looking over the dwarven kingdom in the beginning was jaw dropping--our ability to depict endless dwarven crafting into the mountain really does shock me sometimes. The costuming doesn't look cheesy at all, and the editing was fairly flawless. But. . . there was a problem. The writing. If it hadn't been for the fact that this was a Jackson film about a Tolkien book, I would have walked out. The writing was so contrived that even Gandalf managed to look a fool in the beginning. If Sir Ian McKellen is looking like an idiot, it is through no fault of his own (he managed to make Magneto look impressive and almost scary for God's sake). Whoever wrote the script for The Hobbit should be ashamed. Having never read the LOTR series itself, I still managed to know what end was up by the time credits rolled. Ten minutes into The Hobbit, I was staring at my husband thinking, "Um. .  .what?" It was an hour into the movie before we settled back and enjoyed. You know what made it suddenly great?

They stopped talking.

The fight scenes were detailed, the mountain giants made me giggle with glee, and the riddles between Golum and Bilbo were well played--Golum's split personality stood out well (I especially liked the song he sang as he killed the. . . Ork, I think. A nice play on the fish he smashes in The Two Towers). The music was beautiful and powerful, like usual. Whoever scores for these movies is a master (Howard Shore, I believe). I'm still humming the song the dwarves sung in Bilbo's home (not the dishes one, but the one as they sit by the fire. I think it's about the Misty Mountain). And who doesn't recognize the main theme song-- The Fellowship?

Overall. . . I'd have to say: go see the movie in a theater if nothing else because of the sweeping shots of New Zealand, the scenes with the dwarven kingdom. . . and every fight scene within. Suffer through the first hour, and the rest is gold. You will see a connection between The Hobbit and the other LOTR movies in many scenes--like Golum's song, the paths the dwarves and Bilbo take on their quest, and parallel conversations between Bilbo and Gandalf that are similar to ones Frodo and Gandalf have. I did leave the theater with more questions (luckily my hubby was able to fill me in on the LOTR elements and references at least) than answers. I hope the next two movies go a little better. And that they've found some new script writers.

Edit note: I should add that after a conversation with someone who has read The Hobbit who assured me the scriptwriters kept to the book, I need to say this: sometimes, what looks great on paper doesn't translate well to the movie screen. Look at Shawshank Redemption. The movie managed to be way better than the book. If they had kept the script writing word for word, it definitely would have fallen short. Any script writer (or novelist who options their books) will tell you: script writing is very formulaic. It's a totally different form of writing. I'm not saying plots need to change. That's not it at all. I loved the plot of this movie. But the script needed to morph into something that looked better on screen.