The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Movie Review and BlogFest
I finally got to do with The Hobbit what I wanted to do with the Lord of the Rings movies – go to a midnight premiere in costume. With my Ferrets. Well, all except Lissa, because she’s not as big of a Tolkien nerd as the rest of us.
The Ferrets – POST midnight showing. AKA 3 am, which is why we all look stoned. Left to right: Michelle, Jessica, Eris, Rebekah, Serena.
To avoid possible spoilers for those in the Hobbit BlogFest who haven’t seen the movie yet, I’m going to get that part of my post out of the way first 
.
HobbitFest is being held my M. Pax and Tyrean Martinson, please click the thumbnail above to see the post with the other HobbitFest participants!
And the 4 questions to answer for HobbitFest:
What is your favorite hobbit characteristic/or the one that you think closely resembles you?
Haha, gardening! Even though I’m new at it, and 10 years ago you wouldn’t have heard me say that I enjoy gardening, it’s definitely becoming something I treasure. Nothing tastes as good as the first ripe tomato of the season right off the vine.
If you could choose between a scrumptious second breakfast or a perilous unexpected journey – which one would you prefer?
Second breakfast. Because I don’t like unexpected things. Nope. Not one bit. They make me cry.
Have you ever left behind something on a journey (expected or unexpected) and wished you could have it over and over again? (a pocket handkerchief?)
Usually my camera. I’m not photography minded normally, but when there’s absolutely no camera around is usually when I’ll see something that I’d actually like to get a picture of.
What is your favorite part or quote from the book that you hope will be in the movie?
The songs! And so far . . . well, it looks like everything’s going to be included!
And now . . . the moment you’ve ALL been waiting for . . . my review of The Hobbit! (There be spoilers here.)
First off – this was my first midnight showing ever. It was so much fun, but The Hobbit is definitely the only movie(s) I will ever do this for. So tired today . . .
But, the movie!
OMG THE MOVIE!
I have been waiting for this movie to come out since I first read The Hobbit 10 years ago, long before there was even a glimmer of hope that it might actually happen. The Lord of the Rings movies had just started coming out, and so everyone was waiting to see what would happen with those.
First off, though – this is not a straight adaptation of Tolkien’s book. The reason that there is enough material for three movies is because material is being gleaned from the appendices of the Lord of the Rings books for what was happening behind the scenes with the Necromancer during that time, but it’s all very related to the Dwarves quest, because that’s how Bilbo finds the ring.
I would say that a good half of this first movie was from The Hobbit book. Things are changed as necessary to make it a good movie – Azog being in it as the bad guy at all, for one, but his involvement was added in well, in my opinion.
Also, I honestly cannot comprehend why anyone would want to see this movie at the High Frame Rate. It is absolutely gorgeous as-is. I can understand wanting to see it in 3D, but I don’t know that I could handle that personally. It would be too overwhelming, I think.
Things I loved:
The costumes! (If I wasn’t a writer, my next profession of choice would be costume designer. Or zookeeper. Sometimes it’s hard to pick.)
The music – OH THE MUSIC! I think I replayed the entire soundtrack in my sleep, because I woke up humming “Over the Misty Mountains”. While not every song in the book (you know, as far in the book as the 1st movie went) was included, the main ones were. Even if a couple were cheesy, it was still so awesome to see them in there!
Radagast’s show-down with the Necromancer. CREEPY.
The mention of the blue wizards. Huzzah!
THE EAGLES.
And as usual, the scenery shots and special effects were STUNNING. Can’t wait for actual scenes with Smaug beyond just fire and brimstone 
.
Things I . . . didn’t love:
The way Radagast the Brown was portrayed. In the book, he’s eccentric. In the movie . . . he was more like slightly insane. Radagast has been one of my favorite characters from the book for a very long time, so this portrayal did NOT live up to my expectations at all.
It has been forever since I’ve read the book so I won’t be able to have too many moments of “that’s not how it happened in the book” lol! It’s a part of LOTR and the whole doggone thing is a part me…as a dreamer and a writer. So I hope to make my way to the theaters to get my fill of dwarven fun and action.
Oh, the soundtrack! Serena (the last one on the right in the photo) said she had to listen to the LOTR soundtrack when she got home, but realized it wasn’t going to give her the Dwarven theme, and she was so bummed out, hehe.
I love the dwarves so much. It was awesome.
I skipped over the spoilers! I love the gardening, too. And I seen more than one person saying they left their camera behind. Love the photo with your fellow Hobbitses!
Thanks!
I’m going to see the movie in a week or so, when the frenzy has died down a bit. Am in two minds about it. The thing was filmed right where I live in Wellington NZ, and there’s been a fair buzz about it here for the last couple of years. I’m a huge Tolkien fan. I am also a huge fan of Jackson’s stuff and, of course, it’s great to see a New Zealander hit the world stage like that. And yet…I don’t know. it is clearly not “the film of the book”, it is something else. Better? Maybe. Purists will likely be offended, and that’s coming out in the reviews. Different? Sure. Someone I spoke to who saw the movie and knew nothing of Tolkien said it was a great movie, of itself.
I’m going to reserve judgement until I see it. I first read The Hobbit when I was 11, and it’s been a part of my life ever since. A great book – well crafted, tightly plotted and well pitched for its audience. Not something that can be turned into a 9-hour movie series, though. Maybe it might be better to think of The Hobbit movie trilogy as stories sprung from it. Don’t know…
*nod* I’d imagine there’s a lot of build-up for it there, especially since it’s a huge tourist attraction for NZ as well.
I consider myself on the not-so-stringent side of a Tolkien purist. I love his original works just the way they are, but I also understand that some things don’t work for film that do for books.
I’ve read and loved almost all of Tolkien’s books (even the non-LOTR ones), and I have to say that overall, there were more things that Jackson did to Fellowship of the Ring to change the story than he did to The Hobbit, IMO. And he’s not only pulling from The Hobbit (book) for the movie, but also the appendices from LOTR, and from The Silmarillion to weave the story together so that it completely sets up for LOTR.
So, at least even the people who haven’t read all the books will know everything that was going on with the Necromancer, and with Gollum, and with Saruman and the elves.
Of course, there’s still two more movies to go . . . so we’ll just have to wait and see what else Jackson does!
Pingback: It’s a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad Movie | The Blog That Made No Sense
I agree – I think the rabbit sleigh was needlessly over the top. Love the songs, too! And the eagles!
Wish I was a more hobbit-like gardener…