Tuesday, March 26, 2013

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Review

I just got The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and so, like the little kid on the tricycle who gets to the park after all the big kids have had their fun and left, I shall write my humble review of the film.

-The overall tone was about what I expected. It certainly wasn't The Lord of the Rings, but I really didn't expect it to be. Even the books are very different. The Hobbit is a light read, almost bordering on comedy, as opposed the darker Rings trilogy. You could tell that the film makers tried to balance the lighter feel of the book with the grim epicness of the trilogy. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn't.

-As a diehard Tolkienite, I quite enjoyed all the references to the Appendix and The Silmarillion.

-I thought Martin Freedman was terrific as Bilbo. Likewise, I was most happy with Richard Armitage. Having just finished watching North & South when I learned that he'd been casted, I thought he'd make a perfect Thorin and I was not disappointed.

-I really enjoyed the White Council scene. Saruman sounded like the Saruman of the book, perhaps even more so than in the LOTR films. He felt like the modernist wizard that Tolkien presented.

-Much has been made about the look of the film and I'm afraid I have to side with the detractors on this one. I thought the whole film looked rather plasticy (let's just pretend that's a word, okay?) and I found it rather distracting.

-Also, I really liked this scene and I think Tolkien would have liked the sentiment:

3 comments:

  1. It’s fun, entertaining, well-acted, and very nostalgic if you loved the old movies but also very long in how it goes through these tangents and never really settles down from it. Still, it’s an alright time at the movies. Nice review Josh.

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  2. I just saw it today on the bus ride home from Lima. I really liked it (surprising, since I'm not a major LOTR fan...shhh, don't tell your family!). You're right, it definitely had a lighter feel to it and I think that's what made it more appealing to me...the others are almost too intense for my tastes. :-) Now, I need to see it in English to compare it to the Spanish version. There were a lot of times that I was the only one on the bus laughing...guess they didn't get the humor...haha.

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