Tolkien's T.C.B.S discussion

Your thoughts on the film...

I was a little worried before I saw the film because of some of the negative comments made by reviewers (about the pace and the additions to turn it into 3 films). However, I loved it: I thought they got the tone right and I was happy about the additions coming from the appendix to The Lord of the Rings, the layering of what is happening elsewhere.

Although I wasn't initially enamoured by Freeman's less than polite rendition of Bilbo, I soon realised that while the quaint gentlemanly behaviour might work in the book, which I believe was tailored for kids, it would have seemed a little odd in the film, the tone and scope of which was set by the LOTR movies. It was entirely believable for the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit to exist in the same cultural context of the world created in the previous trilogy. I loved how it tied up with FOTOR, even if Bilbo and Frodo did look a little different from the way they appeared in the first movie!

I loved the movie. I loved the hints of Smaug. I loved the background on Thorin. I loved that nothing about the dwarves was "silly."

I did (because I'm a bit of a purist) have issue with Azog chasing the company across Middle Earth... since he's supposed to be dead by Dain's hand in that battle they showed a flashback to. Now, one of his descendants does show up in the Battle of Five Armies, so I'm not sure if having the orc be HIM would have changed my opinion at all... I sort of just felt that it added an unnecessary speed to the pace of the movie. There's plenty of mystery and action in the book (IMHO) that the orc chase scenes weren't entirely necessary.

I loved the Hobbit! I don't think they could have gotten a better Bilbo than Martin Freeman, I simply adore that actor. I think all the dwarves were cast perfectly,(specially Thorin) and while they were fun and high spirited like in the books, nothing was silly about them, as Gimli was sometimes portrayed.

I agree with Jenelle that leaving Azog alive bothered me a little. At first I did not even know it was him because they pronounced the name different that how I am used to saying it. Then I was like "Oh no they didn't!". But I can see why they did it, even if I would have rathered they did not. The thing that sparked my outrage was the relationship between Thorin and Elrond. I was glad Elrond was a little more laid back than in the LOTR films, but that whole thing about Thorin hating all elves got my blood boiling. Sure Thorin was not enamored with Elrond, but he bore him no ill will either! I was also bummed there was not more of the Eagles in there. I love the Eagles and was looking forward to seeing more of them and giving the back story of why Gandalf had such a good relationship with them.

I was was so thrilled they added more songs though! I sing the songs from the book and was so happy to have a new tune to sing them to.

Loved it :) Can't wait for the next!

Jenelle wrote: "I loved the movie. I loved the hints of Smaug. I loved the background on Thorin. I loved that nothing about the dwarves was "silly."

I did (because I'm a bit of a purist) have issue with Azog chas..."

While I too chafed at the inclusion of Azog 'the defiler', I think it made sense in terms of moving the plot along, as we know, nothing much happens between the company leaving The Shire until they encounter the trolls, and then not much until they arrive willingly in Rivendell. Had that been accurately translated into the film it might have made for an opportunity fo some backstory,but limited to no action potential along the road. I think including the Azog chase plot made it that much more dangerous, although the Wargs chasing a hippie on a rabbit-drawn sled was rather jarringly out of context. And as for the enmity between Thorin and the wood elves, one must ask what they were doing, arriving to see Erebor entered by the dragon, and then just leaving; the fact that the attack differs greatly from the book, where the only dwarves to survive were those who were outside the mountain at the time of the attack, and Thrain and Thror managed to get out via the secret door. In the movie it seemed that after quashing a token dwarven resistance, Smaug just ambled on into the mountain, expunging the survivors out of the front door, rather generous of him!

in the hobbit the addition of azog gave enough edge and speed for a hollywood production . when i first read the book the journey itself was ok (even if sometimes i asked myself why was it so lacking in action compared to the journey of frodo)so as far as the plot of the story it didn t change much with the presence of azog. the dwarves are very funny and this fact was not described fully in the book so i liked this addition. the cast was perfect and as wolfie said the elves and especially elrond were more involved in the course of the events i didnt think the appearance of galadriel had a lot of effect so it was better to leave her out of it

You know, The Lord of the Rings was a race again evil. Frodo and the company were good, fighting for middle earth while Sauron did everything he could to stop them, so there is more action.

The Hobbit is a journey about self growth. Bilbo finding out he is brave and even fierce sometimes. Stepping outside the ordinary to discover things about himself, so there is less action.

I was excited about this movie coming out for years before it finally did and couldn't wait to see it. Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed with the end result. I guess I just got bored. I felt there were far too many nods to LotR and would have preferred less "borrowing" of the LotR music. Also, it seemed that the movie was stretched out unnecessarily long so its length would match that of the LotR films. I hated the addition of Azog,the extreme silliness of Radagast and the Great Goblin and Saruman hinting that Radagast was using mushrooms to get high which was very out of place and out of character. I really disliked the misrepresentation of the history of the hatred between elves and dwarves. I realize that he couldn't tell the whole story of their animosity since it stems from The Sil but to portray it as coming about because Thranduil didn't like having to pay homage to a dwarven king was too much. As for the overall feel of the film, it just seemed to me like PJ couldn't make up his mind whether to go for a LotR approach or a Narnia approach and went back and forth between the two which in my opinion just didn't work.
The things I did like were the actors who I felt all did a superb job, especially Thorin. The scenery was breathtaking as always and the additions from the appendices were well incorporated. The wargs and pine tree scenes though changed a bit was action packed and done well as was the stone giants battle.
After seeing the preview for the next film I have more hope of liking it though I am sure the addition of Tauriel will drive me a bit crazy, but it looks like it will be good. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Keri, my impressions of the film were very similar to yours. Radaghast was particularly painful to watch. He seemed more like a cross between a Harry Potter wizard and a Ringling Brothers circus act.

But as you said, the acting on the whole was superb (Thorin and Bilbo in particular), the scenery breathtaking and in the end that was enough to carry the film for me. The best moment of the film for me was probably the Misty Mountain dwarven song. Such rich bass and acapella. It was brilliant.

While the movie may not have been the Hobbit movie I was hoping to see, I walked away liking it as a film on its own despite its many flaws.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Extended DVD out in November!!!

Anyone watch the Extended edition of the Unexpected Journey, yet?

Yes, and it's fabulous! Watched it before we watched Desolation of Smaug - really cleared up some things.

Cool, I will definitely have to pick it up!

I still haven't seen the second Hobbit movie either. Looks like I may have to just rent it at this point. Bummer, but it just didn't work for me to go this time around.

D.J. wrote: "Anyone watch the Extended edition of the Unexpected Journey, yet?"

There are a grand total of 13 minutes extra footage in the extended edition. The extra bits in Rivendell are nice (except the dwarves at dinner time - WTF is with the food wastage???!!!), the extra bit with the goblin king is pointless and silly (and looks forced, like someone dropped an extra clip into the movie to make it longer).

13 minutes! is that all? I have the extended edition on my Birthday wish list, as i did not get it for Christmas. I also haven't had chance to see film 2 yet...but the adverts of it looked really good and so i am very excited!

Lucinda wrote: "13 minutes! is that all? I have the extended edition on my Birthday wish list, as i did not get it for Christmas. "

My advice is wait for the extended edition box set of all 3 hobbit movies. That's what I'm doing. You can borrow/rent the DVD of the movies until the extended edition box set comes out. ;)

Wow, 13 minutes isn't really that much. Maybe I might have to wait for the boxed set as well. I enjoyed the first movie, but it wasn't really on the level of the LotR trilogy. So I don't mind so much waiting to buy the movies.

Thanks for the advice! I might wait :)