I saw the Hobbit yesterday, finally, after years of anticipation. Honestly, it was a bit of a let down.
Here's some backstory:
I was a bit of a black sheep in my family when it came to tastes in genre. My sister was into Nicholas Sparks romance type books/movies and horror (I really don't understand how someone could like those two things simultaneously). My mom likes comedies, mysteries, and romance type things. My dad likes comedies and action. Me? I was obsessed with fantasy.
Unfortunately, in that sort of environment growing up, I had never heard of Tolkien or Lord of the Rings. Then there was that fateful night I was over at my friend's house and her dad put on the Fellowship of the Ring. From that moment forward, I was riveted. I got my hands on a copy of the Two Towers a short while later. Then, I was able to see Return of the King on IMAX with some friends after it came out. That same year I borrowed the books from another friend and read the series.
I was a major fan. In high school, my friends and I would have marathon screenings of the extended editions of LotR. Twelve beautiful hours straight of, in my opinion, the greatest series ever (I swear, we were really cool people).
In college, I finally got around to reading the Hobbit (as well as a reread of the LotR books). It was a great book, full of fun and magical creatures. It was much lighter and nowhere near as dark as the other books.
Every time I heard of another delay in the filming of the Hobbit, I was a little let down, but like most good fans, I continued to await the release date with anticipation. I took the announcement that the Hobbit would be two movies instead of one in stride. I expressed a little skepticism when two movies became three, but that didn't diminish my excitement too much.
Finally, the long anticipated day came. I didn't go to the midnight screening, though I might have in the past. I waited for a late afternoon screening, and surprisingly the theater wasn't as packed as I thought it would be.
It started off alright. I had heard critiques of the 48fps projection and the 3D. Honestly, I hate 3D in general (I'm not sure if I've made it clear here before or not). The Hobbit's 3D was particularly bad. It didn't immerse you in the world like 3D is supposed to (I've never actually experienced that particular effect of 3D, but its what I've been told). It looked cartoonish and gimmicky.
Most critiques of this movie focus on the technical issues of the projection format. Yes, it was problematic, but it wasn't the fatal flaw. The biggest problem, to me, was the tone of the movie. The Lord of the Rings is an epic tale. One that is very dark and very serious. Jackson did an amazing job capturing that energy in the previous trilogy.
Conversely, the Hobbit is not epic. Or dark and serious. It is light and fun and, as is stated throughout the movie, an adventure. Jackson tries to emulate the tone of epicness in the Hobbit to an incredibly detrimental effect. The mishmashing of humor and darkness that is the combination of the light-hearted material with Jackson's attempt at replicating the Lord of the Rings leaves a bad taste. Its too cobbled together to make sense on an emotional level.
Of course, there is also the problem that comes from dividing such a simple story into 3 movies, nothing actually happens in the Hobbit. Yeah there are some major fight scenes and lots of running away from stuff, but really nothing major happens. Its entirely inaccessible to the majority of moviegoers. Only fans who have read the Hobbit likely had any idea of what was going on, or cared since I'm sure anyone who didn't have any vested interest probably tuned out sometime during the three hours and had no reason to tune back in.
PS. Who knew the new superman movie would look so amazing???
