While you were sleeping, the first installment of Peter Jackson's adaptation of The Hobbit arrived in theaters at midnight last night. For fans of the Lord of The Rings trilogy (books and/or movies) and JRR Tolkien devotees in general this has been an eagerly anticipated event. So you don't have to await my attendance at the theater and the possibly considerable hiatus between that eventuality and the presentation of my carefully considered analysis (if I ever write one), here's a mini review from son Nick, a Tolkien scholar and enthusiast for 20+ years, who braved the cold winds of a December San Francisco night to attend the premier screening:
A good story but bloated. Great characters, some delightful scenes, but awkward historical exposition, excessive combat/flight sequences and a few highly questionable instances of manufactured conflict. Good songs, though, and Bilbo [Martin Freeman] was superb. And 48 fps [frames per second] sure was odd!
There you have it.
In Wide Release
I think I may skip this one. I'd prefer to keep Mr. Jackson away from the memories of one of my favorite childhood books.
ReplyDelete-colin
I don't have the self-control for this, but I'd tend to agree.
ReplyDeleteOnce it's available digitally I want to make an improved cut that keeps all of the great scenes that represent the book well, and delete all of the extraneous business. That, I think, would be worth watching. And it would be half as long.
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