Sounds like something a Hobbit would say ... those lovers of a good story and good food. That's just how I felt when I read The Hobbit for the first time. And the Lord of the Rings. And a good many other books, I might say, but it is J.R.R. Tolkien who has held my interest the most and the longest. I've read The Hobbit several times, and the LOTR trilogy more times than I have fingers on a single hand.
When Peter Jackson took on the Lord of the Rings, I was spellbound. It's like he got the SPIRIT of the story. Of course he couldn't tell it straight like the book ... I get that. Embrace it, even. But he found the depth, the spirit, the tenor of those works, and he made them proud. I love every extended cut and extra he could give.
So to take The Hobbit on a similar journey should be a real treat ... not lembas bread to keep you going, but all the goods from Bilbo Baggins' larder. The beginning ... There and Back Again. And it is, for me. A treat upon which I can enjoy every morsel. To wit: I enjoyed every second of it.
Ah, but the liberties taken ... there are many. They must be discussed, but it is 10:30 p.m. on a school night and this is a task best taken on like a true Hobbit would, with a pipe and an pint and a good friend of equal mind and timber. Instead, I have pixels.
It's like Peter Jackson didn't want the story to end, so he kept adding more and more to the beginning and the middle so it wouldn't come to an end so quickly.
It's like Peter Jackson didn't want the story to end, so he kept adding more and more to the beginning and the middle so it wouldn't come to an end so quickly.
Shall we start with the white orc Azog? Was he really needed? Why couldn't the Goblin king meet the need of an antagonist for this first of three chapters.
And what the hell with the Necromancer king? Obviously a set up for the next movie ... but don't the spiders and the elves of Mirkwood provide enough?
Did the dwarves storm in and attack the trolls? Maybe I'm mis-remembering that ... I thought they were picked up a one by one or many. Maybe that was the many. Though, all and all I have not beef with that scene.
Critcs called the movie bloated and lumbering, and I would not go that far because, as I said, I enjoyed every second of it. It was joyful and smart and scary and dark, all at once. Storm giants ... loved it! Goblin caves ... brilliant.
I thought Peter had done a wonderful job of boiling down LOTR to bring it to three movies ... excellent character combinations and complex storylines to tell the flavor of the story. Boiling down a massive book into a comprehesible movie makes sense, and Peter was the pinnacle.
But you don't need to add to The Hobbit ... all the story-telling devices were right there to begin with. There was no need to invent new characters and storylines ... just tell the ones that Tolkien provided!
Enough complaining. It was still brilliant and I still loved every single minute of it, and I can't believe I have to wait 12 months for the next installment.
