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| My, what a big sword you have... |
I've never had much interest in J.R.R. Tolkien but when The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings came out I enjoyed it so much I went to the theater to see it again. I also decided I had to read the books because I couldn't wait a year to find out what happened.
My friend Bernadette was very cute, she's from the Philippines and when I said I had to go read the books she said, maybe they should have waited to release the books. I had a great laugh and let her know the books were written a long time ago.
I devoured the books, I definitely didn't think they were the best thing ever written, way too much description and too many characters with multiple names, my favorite part of the book was the appendix, I loved knowing what happened to everyone afterwards but I did enjoy the story and eagerly anticipated every LOTR movie and watched them all twice in the theater. I remember bouncing in my seat when Legolas did something badass and yet, I was sort of ambivalent about The Hobbit.
If they had announced The Hobbit 9 years ago I would have been all over it but like anything, with time comes distance and I was no longer immersed in that world. Currently I'm immersed in the world of Les Miserables. I haven't seen any press for the movie, whereas Les Miz actors are everywhere and I didn't see any trailers that let me know anything about the story. I had no idea it was about dwarves, I read the LOTR books, not the Hobbit.
That being said, I knew I was going to go see The Hobbit, my nephew and I used to watch the LOTR DVDs together all of the time so I wanted to see this with him and my dad had been hounding me about when we're going to watch it so we all went to the Saturday matinee.
I went in without any preconceptions, not having read any reviews, just hoping to enjoy the movie. Enjoy it? I loved it! Watching this movie made me fall in love again with middle earth. We all loved it so much we are planning on going to see it again in 3D. Keep in mind, I'm cheap, I don't see a lot of movies in the theater so for me to see a movie twice and to pay for 3D, that's saying something.
The Hobbit is lighter in tone then the LOTR movies since the story happens 60 years prior to the other movies. I didn't expect to laugh as much as I did. OK, I had no expectations, but still, it was funny. It also has characters that I love.
I thought Frodo's story was the weakest part of LOTR. It was so slow and dark, whereas I just pretty much love everything about Martin Freeman's Bilbo Baggins. He's a hobbit who is comfortable in his life, he loves hearth and home, something I can relate to. Yet when he has an opportunity for adventure, he goes on it, also something I can relate to. He is definitely the heart of this movie. He brings energy to every scene he is in.
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| Did you know this is Bret McKenzie from Flight of the Conchords? He was in the LOTR movies and in The Hobbit. |
What I also love about this movie is the homage it pays to the fans of the LOTR movies. They know we want to see some of our favorites and we do. Ian McKellan's Gandalf is very much a part of this movie and we get to see some other familiar faces. I thought the way they worked Frodo into the story was wonderful.
I've read some reviews about The Hobbit and I was quite surprised by them. It seems that The Hobbit is getting mixed reviews from critics. I have this to say, this isn't a movie for the critics, it's a movie for the fans. Going in I was worried over the almost 3 hour running time (even tho the rest of them were long), coming out, I felt like I could have sat there and watched another 3 hours. Peter Jackson and company love what they are doing and it shows. If you're a fan of the other movies, you'll love this, if you didn't like the other ones, you might like it since it's lighter in tone, then again, it just might not be your thing but I give it two enthusiastic thumbs up!
Here's a great 13 minute behind the scenes look at The Hobbit. Besides the dwarves I mentioned, I can't tell which actors are which dwarves since they name their characters and I don't know their names. They look so different without their makeup!
