So I saw The Hobbit

[cleolinda]

Due to the computer trouble (see the previous entry) and also my general and regrettable allergy to deadlines, I haven't finished the Breaking Dawn thing yet. However, even if I do finish it this weekend… I'm not sure when it will be appropriate to post it, given the really, really awful events in Connecticut. Charlie's Over-Protective Father

Comments

[lurkeriatipsos]

And Peter Jackson no longer has a working relationship with subtlety

He's gone back to his roots, then?

*still hasn't seen Braindead*

[cleolinda]

I know, right? He had, however, gotten kind of subtle with the LOTR movies... wait, maybe it's (some of the) actors who are subtle and I'm just giving him the credit. Still, I feel like Aragorn's big scene at Amon Hen was still A LITTLE less overblown than Thorin charging Azog.

[lurkeriatipsos]

Well, Boromir was dying at the time, which kind of lends itself to a more subdued and srs bsns fight scene. Still, it sounds really similar: action guy fights the made-for-the-movie villain because otherwise everyone will notice that the movie doesn't really end, it just . . . stops.

[katieupsidedown]

I enjoyed the movie quite a bit, although I wasn't a fan of the book or the cartoon (both put me to sleep at an age where I was regularly reading and enjoying adult fiction and non-fiction

[hopeandmemory]

i don't know, i felt they did a pretty good job differentiating the dwarves. i can tell them all apart now, whereas in the book they had essentially no character development at all aside from thorin and balin (and bombur, i guess). i loved ori's "i'm not afraid" bit, dori's endless politeness, bofur's obliviousness and yet complete sincerity, and the way fili and kili played off one another so well and showed themselves to be a little naive and callous sometimes (the thing about the orcs that leads into thorin's Tragic Backstory). i think we could have gotten more out of gloin, bifur, and nori, but i'm sure they'll have more introductory material in the extended dvd. (not to count my chickens before they hatch, but we all know it's going to happen.

[sianmink]

Sorry to disappoint but they digitally de-aged Elijah Wood, Hugo Weaving and Cate Blanchett.

[katieupsidedown]

I've seen recent pictures of him. I stand by my earlier comment, regardless of what they thought was necessary for the film.

[ladyvyola]

I, too, imprinted early on the Rankin-Bass version, with my brother and I listening to the record version over and over. So I was stuck on the Hans Conreid characterization of Thorin as Grumpy Old Man Who Wants His Money Back

[hopeandmemory]

all of the hot dwarves die - fili and kili get it in the end, too. NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. :( just kill off all of my favorites, then, why don't you, tolkien. (disclaimer: fili and kili were my faves for some reason long before their casting, i didn't just jump on the hot dwarf bandwagon like i did with legolas back in the day, rofl.)

[sevenmarie]

:( i didn't remember that they died. so now i have to watch Aidan Turner die again? I don't know if my fan-girl heart can take it.

[rissa333]

Sure, we were all ready for the Hotness of Men in LOTR. And we pretty much expected the Hotness of Elves, too. But John Rhys Davies, bless his heart and long may he wave, really did not prepare us for the Hotness of Dwarves. UNF

You said it better than I could've. I left the theatre very confused. And warm. And since I know what happens to the three now-hot-onscreen dwarves at the end of the book, it's going to make it so much harder when the time comes.

[cleolinda]

Thank you! The movie opening Friday worked pretty well for me. :)

[harper_knight]

I totally agree with the whole 'Good Fantasy Movie but not Good Hobbit Adaptation' description; that's how I've been talking about it ever since I saw it. Perhaps once all three are out we'll cut scenes from all three down into one movie's worth of time and have a decent adaptation of the book.

Also, I agree about Elrond on a Horse, he looks pretty fantastic. But the whole Gandalf/Galadriel thing was way overdone, I mean.. seriously Peter Jackson does know she's got a husband right, he even put the guy in the other movies.

I really don't approve of what they did to Radagast though. There's nothing in the books that suggests he's anything like.. that. Sure, he's a protector of animals, and sure Saruman didn't like him, but he's one of the Maiar for fuck's sake, not some three-stooges idiot in a forest.

[cleolinda]

The interesting thing to me about Gandalf/Galadriel is that I didn't really read it as romance. I was intrigued because I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. Like, it wasn't quite maternal, but... as far as I remember, Gandalf, as a Maia, is actually far more powerful than Galadriel, and yet he's the one who has to run around with everyone, standing there tired and aged with dirty nails. It seemed like some kind of respectful sympathy and gratitude on Galadriel's part, and Gandalf seemed surprised and touched. She's kind of a caretaker type anyway, I think.

[wendyzski]

yes - he is given the red ring by Cirdan