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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Mar. 6th, 2013 03:27 pmSo I finally watched The Hobbit: AUJ last night and I was not impressed. I feel that the book was too fundamentally changed. In both big and small ways. I ranted about it on my tumblr, so I won't repeat it here. However, the largest observations that have stuck with me:
1. The cave scene was the one scene where it felt authentically like TH and not LOTR: The Prequel. It was also the only time I thought Martin Freeman shone as Bilbo. But I felt like he spent most of the movie coasting (which I feel it partly his fault, and partly the fault of Peter Jackson for turning the movie into "Thorin")
2. Too much CGI. Oddly, there were scenes where the CGI felt more HP and Narnia-esque rather than LOTR. Which was weird to me, because way back in 2001-2003, it was LOTR that was the innovative series while HP was stuck in the 1990s CGI wise. I also hated how story/characterization was sacrificed for show-offy special effects. There is no reason why Peter Jackson couldn't have stuck more closely to how TH was written. But no, he had to fancy everything up. UGH!
3. Ian McKellan, Richard Armitage, and Andy Serkis were the only actors who made the movie worth watching. Ian delievered despite the cheese he was forced to muddle through. (That 'he gives me courage' speech made me want to gag, and is soooo un-Gandalf!) Richard Armitage kept getting propped, but he actually put gravitas in his performance nullifying the constant propping. In other words, HE was the one who make you feel for Thorin, despite the annoying add-ons from Peter Jackson (look at mighty warrior Thorin fighting the orcs! look at Thorin mourning his lost land!). He could have easily coasted but he didn't. Then there is Andy Serkis, who somehow managed to make Smeagol look fresh, and still just as creepy/vulnerable as he was in LOTR.
4. Rotted tripe and stinky cheese is my nickname for this film, and I felt it especially during the council as Lord Elrond's home. I also fet it everytime the familiar LOTR essential theme music was used over certain bits of the film. It felt manipulative. Also, I didn't like how the ring was turned into The Ring, cuz even with Tolkien's tweaking, it was still "inconsequential" in TH, while other events were given more importance. I feel like there are other ways Jackson could have turned this into an epic prequel without harming the essentials of TH. (I hated the voiceover narration too. It took all the suspense out of the picture. That should have been moved to later on. The Company telling Bilbo around the Campfire, for example.)
5. I need to rant about Bilbo. He's a reluctant adventurer in the book. He's goes because he's prodded and pushed by Gandalf. He then sticks with the journey cuz he has an ego and wants to prove Thorin and company wrong. He's bumbling, but he's can also think on his feet. Peter Jackson does NOT understand Bilbo. Bilbo would NOT abandon the company because he misses home like the movie implied. Nor did the movie do justice to Bilbo's bumbling but quick thinking ways. He just gets...dropped... into situations (like rather than show his ingenuity into wandering around the cave trying to find the Company, he instead is ~dropped~ to the very bottom where he meets Smeagol. Also, the troll sequence was changed as well as others to make him more normalized instead of the bumbling but quick thinking hobbit he is.) That annoyed me to no end and I will never forgive Peter Jackson for changing Bilbo like he did. (I can understand Thorin-fying the movie BUT Bilbo shouldn't have been altered to prop Thorin.)
1. The cave scene was the one scene where it felt authentically like TH and not LOTR: The Prequel. It was also the only time I thought Martin Freeman shone as Bilbo. But I felt like he spent most of the movie coasting (which I feel it partly his fault, and partly the fault of Peter Jackson for turning the movie into "Thorin")
2. Too much CGI. Oddly, there were scenes where the CGI felt more HP and Narnia-esque rather than LOTR. Which was weird to me, because way back in 2001-2003, it was LOTR that was the innovative series while HP was stuck in the 1990s CGI wise. I also hated how story/characterization was sacrificed for show-offy special effects. There is no reason why Peter Jackson couldn't have stuck more closely to how TH was written. But no, he had to fancy everything up. UGH!
3. Ian McKellan, Richard Armitage, and Andy Serkis were the only actors who made the movie worth watching. Ian delievered despite the cheese he was forced to muddle through. (That 'he gives me courage' speech made me want to gag, and is soooo un-Gandalf!) Richard Armitage kept getting propped, but he actually put gravitas in his performance nullifying the constant propping. In other words, HE was the one who make you feel for Thorin, despite the annoying add-ons from Peter Jackson (look at mighty warrior Thorin fighting the orcs! look at Thorin mourning his lost land!). He could have easily coasted but he didn't. Then there is Andy Serkis, who somehow managed to make Smeagol look fresh, and still just as creepy/vulnerable as he was in LOTR.
4. Rotted tripe and stinky cheese is my nickname for this film, and I felt it especially during the council as Lord Elrond's home. I also fet it everytime the familiar LOTR essential theme music was used over certain bits of the film. It felt manipulative. Also, I didn't like how the ring was turned into The Ring, cuz even with Tolkien's tweaking, it was still "inconsequential" in TH, while other events were given more importance. I feel like there are other ways Jackson could have turned this into an epic prequel without harming the essentials of TH. (I hated the voiceover narration too. It took all the suspense out of the picture. That should have been moved to later on. The Company telling Bilbo around the Campfire, for example.)
5. I need to rant about Bilbo. He's a reluctant adventurer in the book. He's goes because he's prodded and pushed by Gandalf. He then sticks with the journey cuz he has an ego and wants to prove Thorin and company wrong. He's bumbling, but he's can also think on his feet. Peter Jackson does NOT understand Bilbo. Bilbo would NOT abandon the company because he misses home like the movie implied. Nor did the movie do justice to Bilbo's bumbling but quick thinking ways. He just gets...dropped... into situations (like rather than show his ingenuity into wandering around the cave trying to find the Company, he instead is ~dropped~ to the very bottom where he meets Smeagol. Also, the troll sequence was changed as well as others to make him more normalized instead of the bumbling but quick thinking hobbit he is.) That annoyed me to no end and I will never forgive Peter Jackson for changing Bilbo like he did. (I can understand Thorin-fying the movie BUT Bilbo shouldn't have been altered to prop Thorin.)
