Back to Middle-earth. Much time has passed since my last post, but with the passage of time come new Peter Jackson adaptations of Tolkien, so there you go.
I saw The Hobbit
with a group of 9-year-olds, one of them mine. We'd already read the book together and were geeked for the movie, but then I'd also read certain weak reviews. I was ready to be disappointed, but in the end I enjoyed it pretty consistently. If PJ's LOTR was 100%, I'd call this Hobbit about 85% enchanting. The kids loved it.
I won't really review it here, except to say this:
--The whole opening sequence of Erebor getting blasted is great. The other opening sequence with Elijah Wood hanging around Bag End making noises about the Big Party feels forced and artificial.
--Then everything gets nice because Martin Freeman is terrific as Bilbo.
--I could listen to Ian McKellan talk all day. He could probably tell me about his laundry and I would find it enthralling.
--Most
of the battle sequences and fast action business, however, feel far too busy, as if they were designed merely to give the 3-D something to do. The tempo and noise and
violence don't mesh with the rest of the movie even as well as they did in
LOTR.
You'll recall that I don't believe violence is exactly Tolkien's thing, but it is clearly Peter Jackson's. It risks a certain bland dichotomy to say that the most bloodyactionistic scenes are both the most cinematic and the least literary, but that's what we have here. Middle-earth is many things, but it is not a kinetic roller coaster, or shouldn't be.
--I could also have done with a
less ridiculous Radagast. He was entirely too dopey. Plus, while one
rabbit-sled chase might be acceptable, two is far too many. At a few points Radagast comes embarrassingly close to channeling JarJar Binks. I hope his action figures sell poorly.
--Whatever flaws exist are redeemed by Gollum. The whole
riddle and escape episode between Bilbo and Gollum is absolutely superb.
Andy Serkis is just as compelling here as
he is in LOTR. While his Gollum was just one of the great things in the earlier trilogy, he is far and away the best thing in this movie.
--Thorin Oakenshield is far sexier here than I have been accustomed to imagine in my reading. This I can accept.
