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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey *Spoiler Alert*
13 years ago
Review of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey I made after seeing the film yesterday:
Just got back from seeing The Hobbit. Overall, I'd say it was a good film, but not neccessarily a good adaptation.
Good Points:
The 'Prologue' with Old Bilbo and Frodo, while not neccessaryas such, is a nice touch and does help tie it to the LotR trilogy somewhat (it appears to take place a couple of hours before Gandalf shows up for Bilbo's birthday party).
Not 'good' persay, but a fair compromise to make it more managable for filming, is that in the Troll scene, the Dwarves attack the trolls en mase rather than showing up one by one, which would have been tedious to see on camera. They also cut the talking purse bit, but I'd says that's a reasonable course of action considering how out of place it'd be.
Just like the LotR films, there's quite a few 'scernery porn' shorts showing the scope of Middle-Earth which is nice.
It's also nice to see Weathertop for one scene, although that's not a particularly good scene (more on this later).
It's nice to see Christopher Lee back as Saruman, although for some reason his beard is really dark. I know he had a black strip in it in the LotR films, but it seems a bit odd that it would go 95% white in 60 years when Saruman has been pottering arround Middle-Earth in the guise of an old man for nearly 2000 by this point
The Wargs are a vast improvement over the hyena things rom the lotR films, although I'm not to fussed on the demonic glowing eyes deal they have going on
Gollum is well done, being unchanged from the LotR films and as such in good form, and is another nice way to tie together that trilogy with the Hobbit films (but then again, it would have been very difficult for them to have screwed up this part ). Only criticsm I have is that the scenes in Gollum's cave are too well lit; obviously you can't have it be pitch black, but one of the main points in the book is that Bilbo spared Gollum's life because he saw him in clear light and pitied him. That said, this is made up somewhat by Gollum's mannerisms - in the cave he's viscious and menacing, while at the door Andy Sirkis's acting really lets how pitiful Smeagol is shine through.
Bad Points:
I've said it before and I'll say it again - I hate a lot of the designs in this film. The Dwarves don't look like Dwarves, and in the case of Thorin, Fili and Kili are obviously designed to bring in a female audience. One thing that isn't clear in the publicity shots but stands out in the film from time to time is that their hands look fat/swollen. Thror is especially bad in this regard with his hands looking like they have sausages for fingers. And Thror himself looks like he's done with bad CGI.
The Goblins are fairly bad compared to those from Moria in the FotR film, although not as bad as the GW minis make them look. One thing that really stands out is why the *** is the Great Goblin the size of a troll? The book describes him as as big and fat, but this is rediculous, especially the huge skin flap under his chin. And it's not just the goblins which look odd - Goblin Town is made out of massive ammounts of wooden platforms and scaffolding - where the hell did they get all that wood from? Considering how extensive the settlement looks, it doesn't look like it'd be feasable to just plunder the trees near to the entrances to Goblin Town for all the wood needed. Plus, what's up with the baby goblin on the zip line?
Continuing the bad designs, why does Azog parade arround with no armour on? He's supposed to be a mighty orcish warlord, yet seems to think he's Conan the Barbarian and talking of Azog, why did they feel the need to change his background? In the appendicies to LotR it's stated he died long before TH takes place, especially as it's stated in TH that his son was the one who lead the orish armies at the BotFA - looks like PJ has decided to do away with Bolg and have Azog be the orcish leader.
Other liberties taken with the story are that Azog, being alive, is actively hunting Thorin down to get revenge on him for the Dwarvish victory outside the gates of Moria. This includes an attack by Warg riders on the company after the Troll fight and cumilates in Thorin's company taking shelter in a cave which leads directly to Rivendell (why is there a seamingly ungarded passage into Rivendell when it's supposed to be one of, if not THE, most heavily guarded places in Middle-earth under the control of the Free Peoples?), and the wwarg Riders being cut down by a group of Elven horsmen (later revealed to be lead by Elrond who wears purple armour ). After this attack, one of the orcish riders retuns to Azog who seems to have set up camp in Weathertop (or at least some other ruined Arnorian watchtower). That in itself is an odd scene as it makes you wonder how did a large force of orcs set up show a couple of days walk from Bree in a place frequented by the Rangers? Admitantly this is easy to hand wave by the fact that the Rangers are spread out and there's no indication the orcs were there long term, so it's feasable that by the time the Rangers mustered to oust them they'd moved on. Further, it is Azog who leads the joint goblin/wolf attack on Thorin's Company in the woods after they flee Goblin Town rather than it beign an alliance of goblins and wolves who went after the Dwarves to get revenge for the Great Goblin's death rather than on the prearranged raid they had planned.
Another liberty taken with the background is that Gandalf didn't know Dol Guldur had been occupied by Sauron until told by Radagast. In the books, it was Gandalf who ventured into Dol Guldur and made the descovery that Sauron was regaining his power, and in fact this is a crucial plot point in the background as that's where Gandalf gains possession of Thrain's Map and key.
Speaking of Radagast, what the ***? For some reason, he wears a bird's nest under his hat, seamingly to be there to explain why one side of his face is caked in bird s**t and for some reason he rides a sledge pulled by rabbits! Meeting up with Gandalf prior to the pre-Rivendell Warg rider attack he even boasts that rabbit pulled sledge is faster than orc ridden wargs! His scenes in Mirkwood also have such a huge Disney-esque friends with nature vibe, that one wonders if the previous owner of his house was a Miss White and her seven short friends.
One of the most serreal parts of the film is the 'Stone Giants' scene. In the books it's left up to the reader whether they're real, metaphorical or (under the idea of TH being a translation of Bilbo's book), an embelishment to the tale by Bilbo. In the film, the giants are represented by entire parts of the mountain sides coming to life!
One minor niggle, is the use of the name 'Greenwood'. While Mirkwood was originally called Greenwood, the name change happened long before the events of TH rather than during them as the film implies.
Finally, right at the end of the film we get our second glimpse of Smaug (the first one was right at the begining in a prologue told by Bilbo during the prologue). While it is nice that it is only a glimpse, saving his full magesty for film 2 or 3, in the books he sleeps ON a bed of gold, not IN it!
All in all, this is a really disapointing film if you're a Tolkien fan. If you go in expecting a genric fantasy film romp on the other hand, it's not *too* bad.
Just got back from seeing The Hobbit. Overall, I'd say it was a good film, but not neccessarily a good adaptation.
Good Points:
The 'Prologue' with Old Bilbo and Frodo, while not neccessaryas such, is a nice touch and does help tie it to the LotR trilogy somewhat (it appears to take place a couple of hours before Gandalf shows up for Bilbo's birthday party).
Not 'good' persay, but a fair compromise to make it more managable for filming, is that in the Troll scene, the Dwarves attack the trolls en mase rather than showing up one by one, which would have been tedious to see on camera. They also cut the talking purse bit, but I'd says that's a reasonable course of action considering how out of place it'd be.
Just like the LotR films, there's quite a few 'scernery porn' shorts showing the scope of Middle-Earth which is nice.
It's also nice to see Weathertop for one scene, although that's not a particularly good scene (more on this later).
It's nice to see Christopher Lee back as Saruman, although for some reason his beard is really dark. I know he had a black strip in it in the LotR films, but it seems a bit odd that it would go 95% white in 60 years when Saruman has been pottering arround Middle-Earth in the guise of an old man for nearly 2000 by this point
The Wargs are a vast improvement over the hyena things rom the lotR films, although I'm not to fussed on the demonic glowing eyes deal they have going on
Gollum is well done, being unchanged from the LotR films and as such in good form, and is another nice way to tie together that trilogy with the Hobbit films (but then again, it would have been very difficult for them to have screwed up this part ). Only criticsm I have is that the scenes in Gollum's cave are too well lit; obviously you can't have it be pitch black, but one of the main points in the book is that Bilbo spared Gollum's life because he saw him in clear light and pitied him. That said, this is made up somewhat by Gollum's mannerisms - in the cave he's viscious and menacing, while at the door Andy Sirkis's acting really lets how pitiful Smeagol is shine through.
Bad Points:
I've said it before and I'll say it again - I hate a lot of the designs in this film. The Dwarves don't look like Dwarves, and in the case of Thorin, Fili and Kili are obviously designed to bring in a female audience. One thing that isn't clear in the publicity shots but stands out in the film from time to time is that their hands look fat/swollen. Thror is especially bad in this regard with his hands looking like they have sausages for fingers. And Thror himself looks like he's done with bad CGI.
The Goblins are fairly bad compared to those from Moria in the FotR film, although not as bad as the GW minis make them look. One thing that really stands out is why the *** is the Great Goblin the size of a troll? The book describes him as as big and fat, but this is rediculous, especially the huge skin flap under his chin. And it's not just the goblins which look odd - Goblin Town is made out of massive ammounts of wooden platforms and scaffolding - where the hell did they get all that wood from? Considering how extensive the settlement looks, it doesn't look like it'd be feasable to just plunder the trees near to the entrances to Goblin Town for all the wood needed. Plus, what's up with the baby goblin on the zip line?
Continuing the bad designs, why does Azog parade arround with no armour on? He's supposed to be a mighty orcish warlord, yet seems to think he's Conan the Barbarian and talking of Azog, why did they feel the need to change his background? In the appendicies to LotR it's stated he died long before TH takes place, especially as it's stated in TH that his son was the one who lead the orish armies at the BotFA - looks like PJ has decided to do away with Bolg and have Azog be the orcish leader.
Other liberties taken with the story are that Azog, being alive, is actively hunting Thorin down to get revenge on him for the Dwarvish victory outside the gates of Moria. This includes an attack by Warg riders on the company after the Troll fight and cumilates in Thorin's company taking shelter in a cave which leads directly to Rivendell (why is there a seamingly ungarded passage into Rivendell when it's supposed to be one of, if not THE, most heavily guarded places in Middle-earth under the control of the Free Peoples?), and the wwarg Riders being cut down by a group of Elven horsmen (later revealed to be lead by Elrond who wears purple armour ). After this attack, one of the orcish riders retuns to Azog who seems to have set up camp in Weathertop (or at least some other ruined Arnorian watchtower). That in itself is an odd scene as it makes you wonder how did a large force of orcs set up show a couple of days walk from Bree in a place frequented by the Rangers? Admitantly this is easy to hand wave by the fact that the Rangers are spread out and there's no indication the orcs were there long term, so it's feasable that by the time the Rangers mustered to oust them they'd moved on. Further, it is Azog who leads the joint goblin/wolf attack on Thorin's Company in the woods after they flee Goblin Town rather than it beign an alliance of goblins and wolves who went after the Dwarves to get revenge for the Great Goblin's death rather than on the prearranged raid they had planned.
Another liberty taken with the background is that Gandalf didn't know Dol Guldur had been occupied by Sauron until told by Radagast. In the books, it was Gandalf who ventured into Dol Guldur and made the descovery that Sauron was regaining his power, and in fact this is a crucial plot point in the background as that's where Gandalf gains possession of Thrain's Map and key.
Speaking of Radagast, what the ***? For some reason, he wears a bird's nest under his hat, seamingly to be there to explain why one side of his face is caked in bird s**t and for some reason he rides a sledge pulled by rabbits! Meeting up with Gandalf prior to the pre-Rivendell Warg rider attack he even boasts that rabbit pulled sledge is faster than orc ridden wargs! His scenes in Mirkwood also have such a huge Disney-esque friends with nature vibe, that one wonders if the previous owner of his house was a Miss White and her seven short friends.
One of the most serreal parts of the film is the 'Stone Giants' scene. In the books it's left up to the reader whether they're real, metaphorical or (under the idea of TH being a translation of Bilbo's book), an embelishment to the tale by Bilbo. In the film, the giants are represented by entire parts of the mountain sides coming to life!
One minor niggle, is the use of the name 'Greenwood'. While Mirkwood was originally called Greenwood, the name change happened long before the events of TH rather than during them as the film implies.
Finally, right at the end of the film we get our second glimpse of Smaug (the first one was right at the begining in a prologue told by Bilbo during the prologue). While it is nice that it is only a glimpse, saving his full magesty for film 2 or 3, in the books he sleeps ON a bed of gold, not IN it!
All in all, this is a really disapointing film if you're a Tolkien fan. If you go in expecting a genric fantasy film romp on the other hand, it's not *too* bad.
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