The Hobbit Film

[tenworld]

Ive seen a few comments in the chats (also I see I need to get my posts up since I didnt make the latest list of usage:)

I liked it and I am glad PJ made it a more serious film(x3) than the book.  The book is really a modern fairy tale more than a serious novel.
I remember being disappointed when I first read the book (back in the Second Age) that the Necromancer was dismissed so handily.

I also read the appendices of LOTR avidly, so adding some of that is good.  Id like him to do a sequel as well based on those; he could bring back merry Pippin and Aragon since they would be older in fstory as well as real life.

I like the casting espeically Thorin - he was good in Robin Hood and would make a great character should a certain fantasy series be made into film.  Maybe Arilan or wenzel, he can play either side.

I also like the way he teased with the dragon not being shown fully.  Also looking forward to the bear man.

Radagast with the bunny sled, not sure about that, but it did remind us that this is not LOTR.

[Elkhound]

Most of the additional material--except for Radagast & the bunny sled, which I too have trouble with--is drawn from the Professor's unpublished works as later redacted by CRT in the HOME series. 

So much of THE HOBBIT's backstory---the history of Erebor, how Gandalf found the key, etc. is told in long, expository speeches or asides by the author; well and good in a novel, but in a film where the 'show, don't tell' rule is even stronger it simply wouldn't work.  PJ realized he'd have to show those bits rather than having Thorin or Gandalf or whoever make a long speech; and he naturally wanted to draw on the extra material to flesh out the narrative and to tie it in with LOTR.  But that gave him too much material for one movie; he originally wanted to do two.

However, if you look at the structure of THE HOBBIT, it falls naturally into three sections:  Hobbiton to Mirkwood, the passage through Mirkwood and arrival at the Mountain; the rousing of Smaug to the Battle of the Five Armies, with epilogue.  Hence, it had to  be three.

Now, I did think that the fight and chase scenes were a bit too drawn out, and the bit with the rabbits was kind of silly (although I know people who liked them). 

[derynifanatic64]

Seeing rabbits pulling a sled does stretch one's credulity, but it was fun watching them outrun the Wargs.