Tasha Robinson’s (of
the Onion’s AV Club) review of The
Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is very comprehensive. Having seen the film,
I can say for a fact that she not missed a thing, and she also explained a few
things about the film that I did not understand. She is right to mention the
Rankin-Bass 80’s cartoon, which shared many of the same songs as well as source
material. She also highlights and shares the opinion that myself and many
people I know have that the cartoon did a decent enough job without butchering
the plot into three blockbusters.
Ms. Robinson
clarifies the inclusion of a Necromancer and the ‘Brown Wizard’, who I did not recognize
from the cartoon version and immediately thought it was Peter Jackson trying to
go George Lucas and pander to the masses in his own crazed way. I was wrong—the
one armed Orc was the only major invention of Jackson that was put in to give The Hobbit the gritty, grim and nasty
atmosphere that permeated The Two Towers and
The Return of The King. Thought after
reading this review, I can agree that it was a nice touch to give the orcs some
motivation other than ‘let’s kill everything and eat it’ feeling that permeated
the prior trilogy.
However, Ms. Robinson
is quick to point out what I also saw as the main flaw of the film: too many
stories, interwoven well but at some points randomly. She is right to call the
scene with Elrond, Saruman, Galadriel and Gandalf next to pointless, as it was
little more than a shout-out to the Lord
of the Rings trilogy. She should have gone a bit further and predicted that
most of these plots—almost none of which were resolved—are going to lay the
basis for the other two upcoming films.
I do disagree with
Ms. Robinson’s assessment that the film would have been better off if it was
cut down do two hours. Cohesive? Yes. But better? I still play D&D, so just
about any traditional fantasy epic except the first and third Dungeons and
Dragons movies (*shiver*) makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. I know I
complained about it earlier, but I actually liked the extra plots and the parts
not taken strictly from Tolkien’s book. While The Fellowship of the Ring had all the magic and wonder I could’ve
wanted outside of the 1980’s fantasy gems (side note: Krull was unofficially
titled ‘Dungeons and Dragons the Movie’). But The Two Towers and The Return
of the King seemed to trade in fantasy and wonder for Saving Private Ryan -3: Frodo’s a Bitch. Even though D&D was
based off wargames, its rules for mass combat always seemed off to me. So it
was very nice to see the bantering trolls and the Goblin King and stone giants
and the bunny-sled, even if the first three of that list were obviously written
for children.
Overall, Tasha
Robinson’s review of The Hobbit: An
Unexpected Journey was informative, comprehensive and agreeable in the
utmost.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey definitely would not be the same without the added plots and other additions. The film is extremely captivating and stays true to the frame of the novel. The film’s humor is the icing on the cake. Ian McKellen is superb as usual – he can play any role ranging from Gandalf or Magneto to Richard III. He makes Gandalf come to life. The film would not be as impressive if it were cut down to two hours – it’s already bad enough we have to wait a year to see the sequel!
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