one of the more famous opening lines in all of literature these days. it's also one of my favorite books. I've read this one A LOT. enough that I can quote many lines without much prompting. I'm not sure that's a good thing or not, but my point is I love this book.
so when Peter Jackson announced he was adapting the book into not one, not two but THREE movies, I had some trepidation. this is a slender children's book, not even close to what LOTR is. and when it was stated there would be added material, some not even written by Tolkien, well, that sure didn't help. I knew I should see it, since it would at least look great.
so last night I went to see the movie, in 2D non-Imax version. and I liked it. well cast, well acted, mostly well directed (is there no such thing as the laws of physics in Jackson's movies? people fall around and down rocks, or get their heads snapped around (see, or rather don't see his needless KING KONG remake) and nothing really bad happens to them). I liked the score and was greatly pleased to hear at least some of Tolkien's excellent poetry/songs made it into the movie. sure missed "15 Birds" though.
there was a lot of humor in it, which I was really concerned with. if Tom, Bert and Bill hadn't been able to talk that would have been a bad decision. likewise the Great Goblin. I'm sorry the eagles didn't get to talk, which makes me wonder if the spider or even Smaug will. whoever voices him will have a hard time topping Richard Boone's performance in the cartoon version, though. say what you want about that adaption, he was great.
the dwarves looked great, not at all what I was expecting. Thorin didn't have to be made such a hard head about elves so early on. and while I know why they included Azog, it was also really pointless and padding.
the padding with Radagast could have been left out completely, as the council of the wise, nice as it was to see Saruman and Galadriel again. the changes to make Bilbo seem more heroic... well, I can see why they did it and for the most part weren't too bothersome.
and Gollum... he didn't look as good as he did in the LOTR. not sure why, the CG made him look rubbery. it was a bit disconcerting. when I first read "Riddles in the Dark" it scared me, but these days the interplay between the two of them makes me laugh. the end is always creepy. no reason to have Bilbo kick poor ol' Gollum in the head, much as he deserved it.
the movie should only have been about 2 hours, and there should only be two movies in the trilogy. we see the Lonely Mountain at the end of this one and I realized it would be another movie before they get there. how long are they gonna be chased around by giant spiders (ugh) and spend in the dungeons of the elf-king in Mirkwood? it will be nice to see Beorn, I hope.
so entertaining yes, especially if one is not quite as familiar with the book. I'll give it 4 our of 5 rings.
6 comments:
But did you like the popcorn????
We didnt talk about that parmesan popcorn!
Gonna have to go see it again now!
we also didn't talk about dancing in the theater.
the popcorn is good!
Blame it on the music!!
Aw, Gollum looked fantastic. They got a lot more facial range out of him this time.
And yes Smaug will speak. They already leaked who will voice him but I won't spoil it. I think people will like the choice.
If Gollum does come back for the remaining two parts, then they really WILL be milking it.
You didn't mention what format you saw the movie in. Which was it?
we saw it in 2D, standard frame rate. never have seen anything in 3D.
I read about Smaug talking, I'm glad to hear that. and will be!
yeah, Gollum should be one and done at this point, except I guess they could show him leaving the mountain and getting captured by Sauron?
OK I'd be fine with that. I really can't get enough of Gollum as long as it makes sense. After this trilogy that's all Peter Jackson has rights to, so no Silmarillion or anything else.
(Of course if Disney had the rights they'd be announcing Gollum's solo movie for next year...)
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