The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

[felicityking]

So 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.)

Comments

[visionsbeyond.livejournal.com]

Um okay despite it's flaws I adored this movie! Yes agreed that the CGI was overused making it look almost gimmicky in scenes and the changes in the troll scene with bilbo towards the end was OTT and out of place. But I loved everything else. I think it's harsh to judge this film since it's one part out of 3 . Bilbo was bumbling because that's how he's supposed to be early on. He comes into his own much later when he gets the ring, saves the company from the elves etc. I'm happy with Bilbo (except yes for that troll/golbin scene at the end).
Richard Armitage stole the show though. He really made Thorin and epic and special character (because in the book he's fairly one dimensional with his stubborn ways etc.)
His portrayal of the character will make the death scene even harder to watch :(
Wow everything about the gollum scene was amazing and I had to shed a tear when Bilbo spared him! :')

[felicityking.livejournal.com]

"Bilbo was bumbling because that's how he's supposed to be early on."

Either you misread my comments or I didn't explain myself clearly enough. Bilbo is NOT bumbling in the film. To requote myself, he's "normalized." That is why I HATE film Bilbo. He's fundamentally changed right from the beginning of the film. Book Bilbo is one of my all time favorite characters, but the Bilbo in this film is not that character. I am simply appalled Peter Jackson would turn the reluctant adventurer into...

As for not judging it because it's the first part of a 3 part film. I joined the fandom way back in 2001, but because I'm a cinemaphile, I was following the press for it back in 1999-2000. The Tolkien fandom and most of the film community were eyeing these films VERY closely. Back then, Peter Jackson was an indie oddball. New Line Cinema was ridiculed for making a 3 part blockbuster all at once. It was ...basically expected to flop. It didn't largely because Jackson and company sought out the Tolkien fandom and reassured them every step of the way. He explained why he made changes big and small to the book. He also courted the film press (we take it for granted, but back then fantasy film was considered unsellable): Just give it a chance. Look at the CGI (which was very revolutionary). The films being a success are taken for granted now, but back then, it was actually a surprise. To everyone. (Even Tolkien fans thought they were going to get screwed over with a bad film.)

TH is a success, but most people acknowledge the goodwill of the fandom isn't there, that Jackson and New Line are doing it for money rather than for passion of the project. Nor is the critical acclaim there. (Which really says something. Cuz once upon a time, LOTR could no wrong. I sat through the excruciating putdowns HP got from 2001-2003, where every critical review contained a 'go see LOTR instead cuz it's flawless.')

Richard Armitage is good, but I didn't sign up to see 'Thorin.' I hate that everything in the film has been epicized! noble-ized! grand!. Where are my petty but not bad natured drawves?

[felicityking.livejournal.com]

Oh, PJ courted the film press and the Tolkien fandom through all 3 LOTR films. Cuz even though the first one paid off, the other two still had to make their money back. (Also, he got reshoots due to the studio letting him add stuff to please fandom. Also, the bonus material/extended editions were basically thank yous to the fandom.)

Found this on IMDB in regards to changes made to Bilbo's character:

"The most egregious, probably, is how Bilbo, the main protagonist in the book, was all but sidelined in the film and his entire character arc shorted to a mere first-third of the story. In the book, Bilbo's big turning point came in Mirkwood when he was forced to deal with a big spider by himself (since the dwarves had all been captured), and it wasn't until after Mirkwood that Thorin finally accepted him as a worthy adventurer, because up to that point, Bilbo had been mostly useless to the company. In the movie, on the other hand, we see Bilbo willingly running out the door on an adventure (Gandalf had to literally shove him out the door in the book), he shrewdly keeps the trolls talking until the sun rises (in the book, Bilbo cowardly hid behind the nearest tree and let Gandalf deal with the trolls), he cleverly hides from the goblins and easily holds his own against a sword wielding imp (in the book, he gets separated from the company when he's dropped by the dwarf who is carrying him, and he never tussles with any of the goblins), and then he rushes in to save Thorin who is at Azog's mercy (neither this scene nor anything similar appears in the book). The Bilbo on screen is so unlike the Bilbo in the book that he may as well be a different character." (from this topic: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0903624/board/thread/211324243?d=211324243&p=1#211324243, and there are many on that board)

So, I'm far from the only one to have noticed he's been fundamentally changed by Jackson.