The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

MAYBE i have to play by ear...holidays and all...

 

Our favorite local theater finally put tickets on sale yesterday. I'll be going today to pick them up. Kinda sad... I was looking back through old email archives, and found reference to over 30 people in the group I saw TTT with. Now we're down to 8-10. Sad that things and people move on.

But, yay for Hobbit coming in two days!

 

Saw this, and loved it! There were some changes and expansions, some of which might be from the Appendices (I don't know, I haven't read them), but it was still great. I will be seeing it again!

 

I took my mom to see it yesterday afternoon. She liked it for the most part, but thought it had "a lot of fighting" and less character interaction than FotR. And at the end, she asked "was that one a good dragon, or a bad dragon?".

 

The only good dragon in literature is the dark one from How to Train a Dragon, no?

 

So after watching The Hobbit, we started watching LOTR extended edition again. Well, I say again because I thought we watched them. But as I see them now there are things that I dont remember so I question if we did watch all 3 movies. I forgot how much I really do like these movies, and they were so well done.
I was surprised to hear that Aragon is like 87 years old, he looks GOOD for being that old!

 

so what did everyone think?????

 

After much consideration and talking about it with others. I've come to the conclusion...It was okay. I didn't think the plot or "new" characters were as likable or engaging as the original LOTR trilogy. The plot seemed to meander a bit and I didn't really like the wizard with the bird poop in his hair. I liked the part where Gollum and Bilbo had the riddle contest.
I'm kind of interested in what happens next, but I wouldn't be heart-broken if I didn't see the next two.

I definitely recommend seeing the movie in 2-D, non high frame rate. Those things distracted and/or didn't add much to the movie going experience. I hope HFR isn't the wave of the future...

 

Saw it on IMAX 3D. Loved it.

Going to see it again, this time in HFR, this weekend!

 

I liked the HFR idea, but now that I've seen it that way once, I think I'll be good just seeing it in tradional 2D for future viewings. I agree the bird poop in the hair guy didn't make a lot of sense - just can't find myself rooting for a guy that makes no effort to remove feces from his own head... also, it seemed like the dwarves were very weak when fighting the trolls. I guess we should have known they were smaller than the trolls in LOTR, but they seem invincible against all dwarf attacks.

 

I agree, the character development was definitely focused on Bilbo, Thorin and a bit for Gandalf, which left the other dwarfs feeling underdeveloped. I've been told that this is consistent with the book, which didn't really distinguish them that much. So on one hand it makes that part true to the source material, while on the other it makes the movie feel slightly less rich in that one regard.

The other thing I noticed about Hobbit was that the storline seemed a little less ... not sure how to put it. Their situation felt less strategically dramatic, when compared to LotR. The loss of their home and desire to reclaim it is of course a big deal, but can't quite compare to the "evil overlord and his armies are going to wipe out the world" storyline of LotR. Plus, compared to the stakes of either of those, the "reclaim our gold" motivation seemed a bit materialistic.

One aspect that did bother me was the instances of more juvenile humor - things like the troll bodily function jokes. I don't know if that came from the book or was a modern interpretation of jokes that children will relate to, but it felt very out of synch with the Middle Earth setting to me.

But having said all that, I did still enjoy the movie. There were many aspects I did enjoy, and I'm looking forward to seeing the next installments. I just need to find a good premiere venue. The excited crowd is half the fun.

 

It's been 10 years or so since I read the book, but I don't recall any bodily function humor in it. The situation is definitely less dire, and the book itself was much more whimsical cheery than LOTR. It was more like "Ooo! Let's have an adventure! Yay! Oh, crap this got kind of serious -- there's dragons and Gollum.... But we bested them! Yay! Let's have second breakfast!" Whereas LOTR is "OMG, the whole world is in danger, and an age is ending, and if these races can't work together, we're totally SCREWED. Walkwalkwalk. Serioulsy, a Hobbit is going to do this? Are you out of your mind? This will never work. Holy -- what are *those* things? And THOSE things? Runrunrun. Brainwashed leaders? Crap. And WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS? THIS WILL NEVER WORK! Wait. We kind of won, but this still really sucks and stuff's not the same and it's really um, well, let's say goodbye and cry and stuff...."

So, kind of two totally different moods. :/

 

Oh, definitely I think that much of the difference in tone between the two comes straight from the difference in tone and story of the novels.

I LOVE your descriptions - fantastic!

 

Thank you.

 

Though I won't be able to make it the meeting on Saturday, I am definitely heading to the theater Sunday morning to visit the church of Bilbo. Anyone else excited to see the Desolation of Smaug this weekend?

 

Is this the last one or is there one more after it?

 

Based on the Appendix? Will it have three endings like the first trilogy?

 

I'll see your Lego Hobbit photo and raise you a Smaug stein photo.

 

So ya'll want to get together to go see DoS next weekend (the 20th-21st)?

 

I see your "spoiler" steins (who knew that a dragon from a 60 year old book would look like.. a dragon) and raise your a Dori, Ori, and Nori.

 

Alas, we'll be heading back to Texas that weekend, so we're out. Wish we could. Would you be interested in going Sunday the 15th sometime?

 

This weekend is totally booked. We could go Monday evening.

 

How about a Hobbit themed breakfast (or 2nd breakfast) at the Denny's at I-70 & Peoria around 9:30 on Sunday followed by a matinee showing of DoS at the Harkin's 18 @ Northfield Stapleton. There is an 11:30am showing in a theater with Dolby Atmos (New 3D sound gimmick and cheaper than the High Frame Rate.)