The Hobbit.

I was about ten years old when the first of the Lord of the Rings movies came out, so of course I didn't get to see them in theaters. Not that I was a fan back then, anyway. :) But later I fell in love with the movies and read The Hobbit and the trilogy (I'm going to get around to reading the trilogy again sometime- hopefully next year! I lose steam as I go along. I've read FOTR three or four times, TT twice, and ROTK only once).

So I was thrilled when I found out they were finally making The Hobbit into a film! Or, as is the case, three films (more on that later). I was going to get to wave my nerd flag and see it in theaters. :)

And I loved it. It was such an awesome movie, but I'm really bad at writing any sort of reviews, so bear with me. :)

The scenery was gorgeous and made me want to hop a plane to New Zealand. The casting was perfect. I was worried about being able to keep all of the dwarves straight at first, but their individual personalities definitely shine through (though I do have problems matching the dwarves' names with their faces).

And Bilbo? He's awesome.

I have a little confession: I've always thought that Frodo was a wimp.

He is, isn't he? Honestly? Sam is the hero of LOTR, in my opinion. Frodo never would have made it without him. He was a little better in the books, but in the movies he's always pale and rolling around on the ground, gasping for breath and letting his eyes roll back in his head. 

But Bilbo- he's brave and surprising and generally about a thousand times better than his nephew. And this was exactly how I imagined him. {Old Frodo and younger Frodo even look alike.}

And Thorin. I never doubted that he would be awesome, but he was perfectly brave and honorable and angsty. And handsome. My mom said he was a handsome dwarf and I told her if she thinks he was handsome as a dwarf, just wait until she sees him in North and South. :) I've been after her and my dad to watch that for the longest time, anyway.

And Gollum was even creepier than he used to be. {I didn't think that was possible.} I guess technology does improve a lot over ten to twelve years. Gollum wasn't that different, I don't think, but he seemed it. Creepier but...more human, maybe? His face was definitely more human and that played in really well with Bilbo having pity for him.

So what didn't I like? Not much, really. :) I was a little disappointed with some of the additions, particularly the extra battle scenes. The Hobbit is supposed to be a a bit lighter, fairytale-ish, humorous, and whimsical than LOTR. My mom doesn't like the trilogy because of all of the fighting, and I had convinced her that there wouldn't be much fighting until the end of the last film! So much for that. :) The Pale Orc with the grudge against Thorin wasn't necessary. I didn't expect this movie to be so dark. Also, the kooky woods wizard with the hedgehogs and such? I felt like I was in a completely different movie for a few minutes there. It completely threw me off. At first all of the backstory at the beginning felt like it wasn't needed, but it didn't bother me so much later.

But parts of the movie did have a light feeling, especially at the beginning before Bilbo leaves his home. I loved the scenes with the dwarves at Bag End. And the dwarves singing- I was so happy they left those bits in! It was lovely and their second song gave me chills. {There were some guys behind us who apparently thought the whole movie was a comedy. They laughed long and loud and spots that I don't think were meant to be that funny.}

Overall, The Hobbit was completely magical and I loved it. But now we have to wait another whole year?? I don't think they needed three films to tell this story. One would have been doable...two would have been plenty of time. Three? Well, we'll see. I'm not going to complain about another chance to see something Lord of the Rings-related in theaters. :)

Have you seen the movie yet? What did you think?

 

Until next time,