The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Grading & Discussion (Spoilers)

[DarthTom]

Robert Maxwell wrote:

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Um... no. Apart from being CGI characters and speaking oddly, they aren't alike at all.

"virtually identical," to strong of a statement. Many similarities IMO I believe so.

[Robert Maxwell]

DarthTom wrote:

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"virtually identical," to strong of a statement. Many similarities IMO I believe so.

Physically, they have some similarities. As characters, they couldn't be more different.

[Klaus]

A comic on Witsream just tweeted this:

"Can't decide whether to see ˝The Hobbit˝ in 48fps or just wait for the Blu-Ray playing on an uncalibrated HDTV on display at Best Buy.

[Mr Light]

I loved Radagast, and I hope he figures heavily into the next two! I want to see him leading an army of cute animals against the Necromancer

[Starbreaker]

Saw the IMAX 3D 24 fps version Saturday night. I really enjoyed it. The dwarves theme has been stuck in my head for two days! The visuals were amazing, the acting was great, and It didn't feel like 2 hours 45 minutes, which is a good thing.

It's not LOTR quality, but it plays well as a fun kid's flick.

[CaptainCanada]

Didn't get to see this on the weekend, between having to take advantage of opportunities to see other movies on their last days in theatres and traveling home. I gave it a B+.

It's entertaining, but flawed. The story feels inflated to make out a trilogy, and despite the running time, the cast is mostly undefined (between this and the two Snow White movies, 2012 was quite a year for superfluous dwarves).

[Professor Zoom]

Robert Maxwell wrote:

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Physically, they have some similarities. As characters, they couldn't be more different.

Agreed. It's like saying a trash can and R2D2 are identical characters. Seriously, once you get beyond the basic shape, how are Dobby and Gollum the least bit similar?

[sidious618]

Robert Maxwell wrote:

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I quite enjoyed Radagast, too. I would've liked to see more of him, although the sledding was completely ridiculous.

It was! Him sledding to distract the orcs was hilarious and, of course, didn't end up working.

[Kestrel]

^ Yes, and I loved every second of it!

"These are [can't remember] Rabbits! I'd like to see them try."

Radagast in general was a very fun character, I hope we see more of him in the next two.

Professor Zoom wrote:

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Agreed. It's like saying a trash can and R2D2 are identical characters. Seriously, once you get beyond the basic shape, how are Dobby and Gollum the least bit similar?

Yeah, this is one of the more bizarre comparisons I've seen on here.

Overall, I really really enjoyed The Hobbit. I can understand most of the reasonable criticisms of it - slow start, cartoony and overlong action, somewhat bloated - but none of those bothered me a lot personally. The only real critique I have is that they didn't need to bother with Frodo and Old Bilbo to set things up. Everything else with Freeman and the dwarves in Bag End was good though. Overall I tend to like longer films that have more space to breathe though as a matter of taste.

I saw it in 48 FPS non-IMAX, and felt really immersed in everything. It took several minutes for me to adjust, but by the end of the prologue I didn't even notice the slightly-quick motions except for the occasional shot. And everything was so detailed and so beautiful.

Favorite scene - other than Riddles in the Dark which is without a debt the best scene in the movie, Freeman and Serkis were completely brilliant - was probably the White Council. As much as I'm enjoying the main plot of Bilbo and the Dwarves going after Smaug, seeing Gandalf with Galadriel, Elrond, and Good (if arrogant) Saruman had me grinning like an idiot.

[Mr Light]

Why does everyone gravitate towards the Riddles in the Dark scene? Obviously it was a good scene but I certainly wouldn't consider it the high point of the movie.

And I thought it was great to see Ian Holm and Elijah Wood again

[Emh]

Because not only is it the best written scene from the book, but both Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis acted their pants off and had incredible chemistry with each other.

[Skywalker]

I still think it's amusing that Riddles in the Dark was the first scene Freeman filmed. Talk about being thrown right into the deep end.

Though IIRC, the Grey Havens scene was also the first (or one of the first) scenes that the four hobbit actors filmed for LOTR. Wacky film scheduling!

[Turtletrekker]

Kestrel wrote:

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... and Good (if arrogant) Saruman...

Are we sure that Saruman is "Good" here? He sure had a, "Move along, move along. Nothing to see here." attitude toward the Necromancer.

[Emh]

Hanukkah Solo wrote:

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I still think it's amusing that Riddles in the Dark was the first scene Freeman filmed. Talk about being thrown right into the deep end.

No kidding, but it shows what a versatile actor Martin Freeman is.

[Samuel Walters]

Yeah, the vibe I got from Saruman was hardly "good guy" - he certainly seemed more concerned with having the last word on everything (the dwarves' quest, Gandalf's involvement, Radagast's 'shrooms) than on what was actually going on at Dol Guldur.

As for the film's criticisms - while I thoroughly enjoyed the film, they seem reasonable enough. Though, personally, the only thing that really bugged me was Radagast's bird-poop hair and cross-eyed performance. Strange that in a cartoonish film that I'd be turned off by such silliness, but then again, not every reaction is a rational one.