Hobbit

[mizarchivist]

OK, so I went to see The Hobbit. I'm glad I did. I got to go in honor of ahf's birthday following Chinese food. Anyone else want to talk about it? I'll start (in comments)...

Comments

[mizarchivist]

I'm pretty sure the original story was plenty dramatic enough not to add new ways to get from point A to point B. They could have cut a whole hour and still had a long movie that stopped where it did.
Mind you, the addition of the little council at Rivendale meant the 5 minutes with Galadriel. Nice to see her again. Even if she's not IN the book. S'ok.

Um, Radagast. I think you can probably get crazy hippie vibe without bird poo as accessory.

[sandhawke.livejournal.com]

The bird poo was a bit much, but I still liked it.

My big complaint was with the use of the hollywood trope where the trolls would kill bilbo if the dwarves didn't surrender. I'm pretty sure that tactic doesn't work among people who routinely fight to the death, and Tolkien would never have a story element like that (although I'm no expert). Maybe the point is that Thorin is actually a softie, but, ... really?

[mizarchivist]

Yeah. That's the thing. The original troll plot makes MUCH more sense than what they did. I don't see how changing it improves anything.

Also- I've never seen such a hot dwarf as Thorin. Seriously!

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

Also- I've never seen such a hot dwarf as Thorin. Seriously!

Um, oh dear Sauron YES. I don't think I breathed normally even once throughout the entire movie once Thorin showed up. And the two young'uns weren't bad either.

[buxom-bey.livejournal.com]

Just came out of the theater and I don't think it was bird poop. It's was mossy tree bark. For more than that I'm still processing.

[mizarchivist]

I hope you're right about the bark. Looked like poo to me. :P

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

I thought that it was lichen (which is I guess the sameish as mossy tree bark?)

[hawkhandsaw.livejournal.com]

I thought it was tree sap.

I vote poop

[drwex]

they do show him putting a bird up under his hat, with a nest and all.

[cos]

What did you think of the whole "pale orc" plot they added?

[mizarchivist]

Clearly they needed more drama and a bad guy to beat that's seen and active within the first movie. They're not getting that so much from Smaug.

I think they can just have the movie stand on its own without the pale orc. You?

pale orc

[cos]

They seemed to use that plot to make this movie more LotR-style, which overall it mostly was, though it has some Hobbit-style parts and elements. Were you expecting, or wanting, Hobbit or LotR style?

Re: pale orc

[mizarchivist]

Well, considering it's The Hobbit, I was expecting Hobbit. I have some very distant memory of being put out by some choices made on LOTR, so it's possible when I can step back and look at the whole 6 movie arc, it'll work.

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

I love love loved the goblin king. He was a dee-light.

And well, yeah, beardelicious dwarves. Eye candy and squirm-worthy.

[mizarchivist]

I'm pretty sure Thorin's too pretty.

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

Oh honey I am SO not complaining. SO NOT COMPLAINING.

Maybe I need to get out more. Or get beards more. Or something.

I will avoid offering to help with that

[drwex]

but just barely. I thought the goblin king was pretty well-done, though like much else it was drawn out more than needed to be.

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

Yeah, everything *was* drawn-out. I'm not sure why they really needed to make 3 movies instead of 2. Maybe there were 2 natural breaks in the action rather than one and 2 movies wouldn't have worked.

I still want to see it all again though. For the um, costumes.

The Bataan Death March was shorter and less torturous...

[kebbykate.livejournal.com]

As I posted on FB after we went to see the movie. I'm just not a fantasy fan and have never read any of the books, but I really enjoyed the LOTR movies. The Hobbit's pace was just way too loooooong and the story arc was unsatisfying. Visually gorgeous, though.

It was definitely bird poo, plus maybe some lichen or moss. Just too gross for words. I've seen references to it in several professional reviews. Isn't it amazing how in a world with all sorts of stuff depicted in movies and TV that it's bird poo that grosses everybody out?

I kept turning to my sister to say, "and thirteen concussions later". They FELL way too much. I think the various fight and chase scenes were too long and drawn out.

Among my acquaintance the way the opinion is breaking is that the real Tolkein fans are actually pretty happy with The Hobbit while the more casual fans are just overwhelmed and exhausted. I think it might be comparable to how I'm perfectly happy to watch one of the long BBC productions of "Pride and Prejudice" straight through but other people are not.

Re: The Bataan Death March was shorter and less torturous...

[mizarchivist]

I definitely consider myself a pretty big fan of the original work. I was impressed with they way that certain parts of the greater story was woven in, as I felt that a lot of the stuff with the wizard council did say true things about the back story that leads to LOTR.

But then there's the bits that are entirely untrue and put there simply to heighten the draaahhhmaahhhh. And then there's the bits that are there to heighten the tech, if you're there for the 3D, which I was not.

I mostly did like it, but would have been happier if they'd had a stricter editing policy.

Re: The Bataan Death March was shorter and less torturous...

[mizarchivist]

Oh, I'm all for long P&P renditions. I'm certainly loving the Lizzie Bennett Diaries, which is going on for MONTHS in minute increments.

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

I kept turning to my sister to say, "and thirteen concussions later".

:spits tea onto laptop screen::

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

Boy am I glad that I tabbed this to come back to. I haven't laughed that hard in days.

::adoration for fun posts that get funner::