Thoughts on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

There may be some mild spoilers, but probably not many.

As planned, I did go to see The Hobbit on New Years Eve. For the record, we saw it in 2-D. Some people who saw it in 3-D felt like the missed things, which seems weird to me. For me, I wear glasses and I think having the 3-D glasses over them makes it so I am not getting the full effect anyway, so I am usually not interested in 3-D.

I went with my younger sisters, who have seen the LOTR trilogy but not read any of the books, and a friend who has not read or seen anything related, though she is a big fan of British actors, so was happy to recognize some people.

For my background, okay, I know a lot of people criticize the Ralph Bakshi movie, and the truth is, I probably don’t remember enough to know if the criticism is fair, or if I even saw that one. It is possible that all my memories come from the two Rankin Bass movies. I know that I saw all of the Hobbit at an assembly in grade school, and that in fifth or sixth grade I read The Hobbit, but I had seen the movie because I remember knowing the tunes for the songs when I would get to them in the book.

Also, at some point on television I remember seeing Eowyn avenge her uncle, and being completely taken, and reading those books as well. That is more likely from The Return of the King than The Lord of the Rings. (I also remember a completely different interpretation of Denethur than the John Noble one). Anyway, I then had to read those books too.

And this is where the difference really comes into play, in that I know I missed a lot from the trilogy. It was a completely different tone, with a much broader scope, and it was darker, and epic, while The Hobbit was much simpler and more innocent, as well as considerably shorter. I read it multiple times, and sometimes with the trilogy I wonder if maybe I skipped The Two Towers, because there are gaps in my memory, when really based on what I do remember I think it is just that a lot of the trilogy was over my head.

Obviously, I was surprised that they were going to make three movies out of The Hobbit, because it is much shorter than the source material that produced the other three movies, and again, the tone is so different, so I was curious how they were going to go with that, and if I would mind.

Well, there was good and bad. First of all, I was delighted to see Ian Holm get a part, and that goes into a larger appreciation for the obvious loyalty that Peter Jackson feels for his actors, based on who else turned up. That being said, I think it was overdone. They could have had a brief glimpse of Holm and gone straight to Freeman, and skipped the inclusion of Elijah Wood at all, and it would have been fine. That being said, it was interesting to see some of the shared mannerisms of the three actors, as if they observed each other and created a family resemblance. I’m not saying that they used anyone who wasn’t good at what they do.

Based on the book, I was expecting Elrond, which we got, and not Galadriel, thought I think that inclusion worked, and not Saruman, which was distracting because I kept wondering if he was evil yet, or perhaps just on his way, heading there due to pride.

To explain the rest, I will go to after the film when we were talking and I was answering book questions, and Cathy asked me if fans would be mad at the changes. Well, probably some will. On one level, it is bringing in information from the other books, and integrating the related materials, and so they could really like that, and I don’t mind that. Actually, the first thing I wondered when I heard that this would be three films is if Jackson was going to find a way to bring in Tom Bombadil. (I have no idea.) For that part, fans may love it.

On a different level, if you like the book The Hobbit, and its tone, taking that innocence and simplicity and moving it towards something different, though good on its own merit, can feel wrong. And that kind of leads to before the movie, when we saw trailers for After Earth, Oblivion, Man of Steel, and the new Star Trek movie. I did lean over to Cathy and whisper “They sure are destroying the earth a lot,” which was true, after I had my private thoughts about preferring Wall-E to Tom Cruise, but more than that I was thinking, does everything have to be so bombastic?

Now, we were at a big budget blockbuster, so that was the kind of previews we were seeing, and I get that. I just like quiet movies, with relatable issues. (Says the girl who wrote 415 pages set in the post-apocalyptic dystopian future, yes,, but it is full of simple, human moments, would not require many special effects or any CGI, and there are no killer okapi stampedes.)

Also, once you start pumping things up, it becomes so easy to veer into the ridiculous, where you have unrealistic falls and swings and things that were irritating in Pirates of the Caribbean and feel out of place here.

So that leads to the other question Cathy asked, about selling out, because we had mentioned Lucas and Spielberg, and they have all given me some great moments, and I wouldn’t call any of them sellouts, because I don’t think they do it for money. Yes, they end up with a lot of money, but really, I think they are big kids having fun playing with their toys, and falling in love with the possibilities, and at some point maybe they lose touch with reality. After all, it is already in the realm of fantasy or science-fiction, so the rules shouldn’t be as strict, but still, there are things that will seem real, and things that won’t. I need to quote something from a Spielberg movie here:

“Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should.” (Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park, could very well be from the book)

There were things that were great about The Hobbit, and I had a good time, and I am crushing a bit on Richard Armitage (Thorin) and Aidan Turner (Kili). I am thrilled to see Martin Freeman, because after Hitchhikers he said he was retiring, and I prefer him being around. He makes a good Bilbo.

Also, there were things that annoyed me about The Hobbit, and that took me out of the film, which I don’t remember being an issue with the LOTR trilogy, and so if you liked it or hated it, or were ambiguous about it, yeah, I get it.

You know, there’s a good chance I won’t be in a theater again until Valentine’s Day? My sisters think that’s the perfect time to see the new Die Hard, which will be my first Die Hard ever. I suspect that one may be a little bombastic as well.