The Hobbit

#151
#151
Brave Volunteer said:
I felt the same as you. Pacing is awful. There is no way this story should be stretched into 3 three hour films! It's a 300 page adventure story, not some huge epic. I actually dozed off a few times during the movie.
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They included a lot of back story (to fill the gaps left in LOTR) and included bits and pieces of Tolkien's other book, the Silmarillion (sp?). Two films isn't bad, but three is over kill IMO.
 
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#152
#152
MG1968 said:
in particular, read the appendices at the end of Return of the King and the Silmarillion

there is a lot that goes on in The Hobbit that Tolkien mentions, but doesn't elaborate on, particularly the goings-on in Mirkwood with the Necromancer (Sauron) at Dol Guldur and the battle that takes place between he and the Wood Elves at the same time as the Battle of Five Armies
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Exactly. Jackson did a great job tying the complete story together. But as far as a movie for the novice fan (those that haven't read the books but enjoy the movies) An Unexpected Journey is understandably boring.
 
#153
#153
Took the whole family today. Everyone did well, with the closest to an exception being my wife (subclinical case of ADD). IMAX 3D provided incredible visuals, and the story moved rather well, compared to what I had seen in reviews. Gollum is proof that CGA has just about been perfected.
 
#155
#155
volfanbill said:
there's that, especially the parts that Tolkien added in when it was requested that he create a sequel to The Hobbit, or There and Back Again to make everything fit and make more sense. But the bottom line is The Hobbit, or There and Back Again is not an adventure book, it is a fantasy novel about the quest in itself. It's not the story of the battle of Smaug, or the Battle of Five Armies or any other battle or even how a halfling got the One Ring. It's the whole quest, which included tons of just walking around. Jackson took a beating from Tolkien purists like myself, and several far worse than me, for omitting so much of the journey parts of LOTR, which by all indications he is not skipping out on this time. There's a reason the full title of Tolkien/Bilbo's book includes "Or There and Back Again."
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So you're the one who is owed a beating for the 3 hour movies. ****. Just put it in deleted scenes on the DVD. I wanna see the Hobbit so badly, but I'm turned off about sitting through 3 hours for 1/3 of the "quest".
 
#156
#156
n_huffhines said:
So you're the one who is owed a beating for the 3 hour movies. ****. Just put it in deleted scenes on the DVD. I wanna see the Hobbit so badly, but I'm turned off about sitting through 3 hours for 1/3 of the "quest".
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then you're wasting your time. Don't watch. You don't want to watch the Hobbit, you want to watch an action film.
 
#157
#157
volfanbill said:
then you're wasting your time. Don't watch. You don't want to watch the Hobbit, you want to watch an action film.
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You don't know me. Last movie I went to was Les Miserables, and it was great! Just about 15 minutes too long, probably...gotta fit in every song.

The in-laws are taking us to The Hobbit (which I read again, last month) in about 5 minutes. I'll take notes.
 
#158
#158
Saw it tonight with my son. Generally a good movie but, in my opinion, it falls short of the other movies. 1) I say leave out the giant scene; 2) I don't recall Bilbo climbing down out of a pine tree to single handedly fight the main bad guy; 3) Some of the fight scenes were going so fast I could not tell what was happening; 4) I liked the gollum scenes; 5) I don't really recall a bunny-rabbit driving sled wizard.
 
#159
#159
It was pretty good. I would've left out the bunnyman (seriously that was some Narnia dumbassery) and the scene with Frodo, and saved the audience those 20 minutes or so. I know many of you were dying to know what Frodo and Bilbo were doing just before Frodo jumps in Gandalf's lap in Fellowship, but I could've done without that tie-in. Some of the dwarves were so silly, like with the sling shot. Dumb.

I have such a strong love/hate relationship with Jackson.
 
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#161
#161
Enjoyed the LOTR movies, so when my family wanted to see this new release, I took everyone out for the night. My wife thought it was just too long while I agreed with her on that note, I was amazed at some of the CGI. Even my son, who loves this stuff was underwhelmed. Maybe it's the hype and the usual let down of a trilogy, but my family wasn't overly impressed. With that being said, I am sure by the time the next one comes out they'll all want to go see it.
 
#162
#162
Professor Nono said:
Saw it tonight with my son. Generally a good movie but, in my opinion, it falls short of the other movies. 1) I say leave out the giant scene; 2) I don't recall Bilbo climbing down out of a pine tree to single handedly fight the main bad guy; 3) Some of the fight scenes were going so fast I could not tell what was happening; 4) I liked the gollum scenes; 5) I don't really recall a bunny-rabbit driving sled wizard.
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Radagast is mentioned briefly and, as the movie portrayed, is the one that informs Gandalf of the Nazgul and if memory serves warns him about the Necromancer. It doesn't matter in the Hobbit, but it is probably the most important tie-in to the LOTR. I'm not sure that we needed to spend so much time getting to know him, I think he could have been summarized, but I guess it gave clearer scope to the talks about him during the Council Meeting. I don't think it ever mentioned how he traveled to Gandalf, but Gandalf mentions that he never travels, so I guess they found an interesting way to have him travel.
 
#163
#163
volfanbill said:
Radagast is mentioned briefly and, as the movie portrayed, is the one that informs Gandalf of the Nazgul and if memory serves warns him about the Necromancer. It doesn't matter in the Hobbit, but it is probably the most important tie-in to the LOTR. I'm not sure that we needed to spend so much time getting to know him, I think he could have been summarized, but I guess it gave clearer scope to the talks about him during the Council Meeting. I don't think it ever mentioned how he traveled to Gandalf, but Gandalf mentions that he never travels, so I guess they found an interesting way to have him travel.
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Glad to find out Tolkien had nothing to do with the bunnies. More dirt on Jackson. Either way I'd burn him for choosing to include, but now it's much more egregious.
 
#164
#164
volfanbill said:
Radagast is mentioned briefly and, as the movie portrayed, is the one that informs Gandalf of the Nazgul and if memory serves warns him about the Necromancer. It doesn't matter in the Hobbit, but it is probably the most important tie-in to the LOTR. I'm not sure that we needed to spend so much time getting to know him, I think he could have been summarized, but I guess it gave clearer scope to the talks about him during the Council Meeting. I don't think it ever mentioned how he traveled to Gandalf, but Gandalf mentions that he never travels, so I guess they found an interesting way to have him travel.
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Radagast is also directly linked to the Eagles and was the one that sent them to rescue Gandalf from Isengard in FOTR.
 
#165
#165
volfanbill said:
then you're wasting your time. Don't watch. You don't want to watch the Hobbit, you want to watch an action film.
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I'm one of the ones that started the rant and I disagree with your analysis here. Some of the action is exactly what I have a problem with. The rock giants was overkill; the Goblin escape was overkill; the bunny rabbits sled was overkill; the running around in circles while being chased by orcs on dog-things then magically finding the hidden passage to Rivendell was overdone as well.

Overall, I love the story and thought the movie was OK but it was just too much of Jackson's King Kong for me - as I stated in my first comments the pacing was jarring and swung from overly dripping sentimentality to insane action. I never got this impression from the book.
 
#166
#166
volinbham said:
I'm one of the ones that started the rant and I disagree with your analysis here. Some of the action is exactly what I have a problem with. The rock giants was overkill; the Goblin escape was overkill; the bunny rabbits sled was overkill; the running around in circles while being chased by orcs on dog-things then magically finding the hidden passage to Rivendell was overdone as well.

Overall, I love the story and thought the movie was OK but it was just too much of Jackson's King Kong for me - as I stated in my first comments the pacing was jarring and swung from overly dripping sentimentality to insane action. I never got this impression from the book.
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The Goblin escape was a bit overdone, but mostly cool. I just wish Gandalf had decapitated the King when he showed up on the spot, and then they make their escape.

The chase in circles...literally in circles, was beyond stupid. "Hey guys, I got some fast f-ing bunnies, so I'll distract them so that you can escape, but not really since I'll stay in your proximity rather than going away."
 
#167
#167
n_huffhines said:
The Goblin escape was a bit overdone, but mostly cool. I just wish Gandalf had decapitated the King when he showed up on the spot, and then they make their escape.

The chase in circles...literally in circles, was beyond stupid. "Hey guys, I got some fast f-ing bunnies, so I'll distract them so that you can escape, but not really since I'll stay in your proximity rather than going away."
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I can agree with both of these points. The one thing I'm still pondering on is the eagle rescue part. I understand why the changes are there and think they did good job, but not 100% sold that it was the right thing to do.
 
#168
#168
chatsworth_vol said:
I can agree with both of these points. The one thing I'm still pondering on is the eagle rescue part. I understand why the changes are there and think they did good job, but not 100% sold that it was the right thing to do.
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They changed the nature of Bilbo's character a bit to make him into more of a crowd-pleasing hero. Gandalf is the one who fooled the trolls. Gandalf is the one who saves the day with the eagles, not Bilbo. That part was still kinda cool.
 
#169
#169
I stand by my opinion that the movie is too damn long (and the fact that Jackson has already confirmed an even LONGER directors cut version for home relase just baffles me).

My wife put it best. She said it didn't even take her 3 hours to read the damn book and Jackson wants to stretch this into 3 three + hour films?!? Ridiculous! Jackson has become the "Stephen King" of film making. GET AN EDITOR!!
 
#170
#170
I loved the LOTR movies, and the Hobbit, to me, was a bit drawn out. What I do not get however is the giant Eagles. You know how much quicker it would have been to beat Sauron with those eagles? Eff walking everywhere.
 
#171
#171
I know right, send in a dozen eagles to distract the nazgul on the buzzard things, :gun: send in frodo on 1 eagle solo to mt doom and dump him and the ring in it :rock:. Can wrap up the whole story in 2 chapters. :victory:
 
#172
#172
You guys have seen this, right?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yqVD0swvWU[/youtube]
 
#173
#173
n_huffhines said:
You guys have seen this, right?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yqVD0swvWU[/youtube]
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the eagles are what keeps LOTR and The Hobbit from any list of all time greats. For those that haven't read the books, or somehow read the LOTR first, imagine knowing the Hobbit and seeing how easy it could've been with Eagles.
 
#174
#174
Meh, you could just say the Naz Gul would've easily sniffed out the eagles, and stopped them and recovered the ring...you have to turn your brain off for all of it...it IS "middle earth".
 
#175
#175
The Eagles are a noble species, they weren't there to be the taxi service for the Fellowship. Gandalf probably overstepped his boundaries calling on them at all. Plus the fact Tolkien hated using them.
 
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