Spotlight #11: The Hobbit- an Unexpected Journey
Once again, this is being reviewed in a massive lead-up to the premiere of the third and final installment of the Hobbit trilogy. You may ask "Hey, why are you giving each of the moves here their own review while the "Lord of the Rings" only gets one?" Well, my friend, that's happening for two reasons. First off, since Peter Jackson felt obligated to drag this 300-page book into a trilogy of 3-hour movies, I should do the same with my spotlights on them. Second, since they're much more recent and I haven't seen them all at the point of review, there's much more that I can say about them that hasn't been seen a hundred thousand times over. So, without further ado, let's discuss the first entry: "an Unexpected Journey."
The entire Hobbit Trilogy follows the plight of Bilbo Baggins, a minor character from "the Lord of the Rings" who, at this point, some sixty years before then, had no interest in adventures or uncomfortability outside of his home. Imagine his surprise, then, when Gandalf (reprised by sir Ian Mckellen) shows up at Bilbo's with a party of thirteen dwarves who expect Bilbo do no less than to help them slay a dragon that infested their treasure horde decades before. In the spur of the moment, Bilbo is taken on the adventure that will define his life as well as that of all of Middle Earth.
As I mentioned before, the original book was only three hundred or so pages long, meaning that this film is only based on the first six chapters. Normally, this would mean that the director would have to search around the entire series' history to find relevant filler that he could put in to keep the runtime consistent. In this case.... yeah, that's what happened. It does do better than most films by at least keeping most of it interesting, as in the case of the White Council between Gandalf, Galadriel, Elrond, and Saruman, all of which include their actors from the last films. However, the introduction of an albino Orc named Azog seems a little superfluous in hindsight (he doesn't end up doing more than any of the other goblins in the series). There's also this bizarre sequence involving two mountainous giants battling it out in the misty mountains which a- was never mentioned in the book, b- makes no sense in relation to the rest of Middle Earth, and c- has just about no impact on the story that other scenes before it made much more effectively. It's not much, but it was enough for me to feel a little bit confused, even after the credits rolled.
There's also the issue of the animation. Granted, the Lord of the Rings was one of the films that revolutionized it, but they also remembered to use physical set pieces and prosthetics to keep the threat feeling real. In here, all of the orcs and goblins are CG. It's not entirely a bad choice- in some ways it allowed the filmmakers to be much more flexible and creative in the bigger scenes. In this case, the big climactic chase through the goblin tunnels jumps immediately to mind. There was also a very gripping sequence involving a game of riddles with Gollum- perfectly executed and acted with big credits to the animators and actors Andy Serkis and Martin Freeman. However, there are too many cases along the lines of Azog, who was intended to be a major villain- most of the film was just spent with me thinking that he wasn't perfectly rendered. Once again, here it was a mixed bag of getting several instance right while stumbling over the others.
It isn't exactly the return to Middle Earth fans had been waiting for for the past decade, but it is still an enjoyable experience. As I mentioned above, the story is often regarded as the best in literature, and many of those aspects make it to the screen very well. If you enjoyed the original, you'll probably be watching this over and over again. If you thought they were boring, it's still worth looking into for the acting and several of the action sequences, but you'll probably be keeping an eye on the skip button on the remote control. Either way, you'll most likely be happy when you see for yourself and...
The entire Hobbit Trilogy follows the plight of Bilbo Baggins, a minor character from "the Lord of the Rings" who, at this point, some sixty years before then, had no interest in adventures or uncomfortability outside of his home. Imagine his surprise, then, when Gandalf (reprised by sir Ian Mckellen) shows up at Bilbo's with a party of thirteen dwarves who expect Bilbo do no less than to help them slay a dragon that infested their treasure horde decades before. In the spur of the moment, Bilbo is taken on the adventure that will define his life as well as that of all of Middle Earth.
As I mentioned before, the original book was only three hundred or so pages long, meaning that this film is only based on the first six chapters. Normally, this would mean that the director would have to search around the entire series' history to find relevant filler that he could put in to keep the runtime consistent. In this case.... yeah, that's what happened. It does do better than most films by at least keeping most of it interesting, as in the case of the White Council between Gandalf, Galadriel, Elrond, and Saruman, all of which include their actors from the last films. However, the introduction of an albino Orc named Azog seems a little superfluous in hindsight (he doesn't end up doing more than any of the other goblins in the series). There's also this bizarre sequence involving two mountainous giants battling it out in the misty mountains which a- was never mentioned in the book, b- makes no sense in relation to the rest of Middle Earth, and c- has just about no impact on the story that other scenes before it made much more effectively. It's not much, but it was enough for me to feel a little bit confused, even after the credits rolled.
There's also the issue of the animation. Granted, the Lord of the Rings was one of the films that revolutionized it, but they also remembered to use physical set pieces and prosthetics to keep the threat feeling real. In here, all of the orcs and goblins are CG. It's not entirely a bad choice- in some ways it allowed the filmmakers to be much more flexible and creative in the bigger scenes. In this case, the big climactic chase through the goblin tunnels jumps immediately to mind. There was also a very gripping sequence involving a game of riddles with Gollum- perfectly executed and acted with big credits to the animators and actors Andy Serkis and Martin Freeman. However, there are too many cases along the lines of Azog, who was intended to be a major villain- most of the film was just spent with me thinking that he wasn't perfectly rendered. Once again, here it was a mixed bag of getting several instance right while stumbling over the others.
It isn't exactly the return to Middle Earth fans had been waiting for for the past decade, but it is still an enjoyable experience. As I mentioned above, the story is often regarded as the best in literature, and many of those aspects make it to the screen very well. If you enjoyed the original, you'll probably be watching this over and over again. If you thought they were boring, it's still worth looking into for the acting and several of the action sequences, but you'll probably be keeping an eye on the skip button on the remote control. Either way, you'll most likely be happy when you see for yourself and...
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