Hello everyone, hope you're all enjoying your holidays. I've been back from school for roughly about a week, but have resumed blogging after a week of decadence. I just needed some "me" time, but now I'm done. Anyway, for the first of my three reviews, here's The Hobbit.
Most Tolkien fans are already familiar with the story: prior to Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Bilbo Baggins is paid a visit by Gandalf and a group of dwarves who he joins on a quest to reclaim their kingdom from a threatening dragon. Although Bilbo is reluctant at first, he discovers a sense of adventure amidst the journey, including a fateful encounter with a wayward hobbit named Gollum and "The One Ring."
Putting it nicely, The Hobbit is to Lord of the Rings what the Star Wars prequels are to the original trilogy. Some may cry blasphemy at my comparison, but I generally enjoyed those films, even if they were wholly inferior in comparison to their predecessors. The Hobbit dazzles viewers with the help of a ten-year advance in special effects between the series. Although I did not see the film in it's controversially ground-breaking, "soap opera-like" 48 frames-per-second, I've seen enough film and TV on LCD projections that I know it's really best served for films like these where the "smoothness" makes the CGI less obvious. At 169 minutes, it's a long endeavor, but with enough adventure, imagination, and distinct characters that it will keep your attention.
The Hobbit's biggest flaw is that it's esotericism comes with a strong reliance on comic relief, whereas viewers unfamiliar with Tolkien at the time Lord of the Rings was released (like me) were tenaciously drawn into the world of Middle Earth thanks to the trilogy's strong dramatic thrust. The Hobbit leans heavily on mild-frathouse humor, mostly from the dwarves. While it worked in bits and pieces in Rings, here it feels at times excessive, and borders on amateurish. Mature audiences (like my parents) will likely be bored by these antics, but the target teenage audience will likely gobble it up.
Most sentimentally, The Hobbit is a welcome reunion to Middle Earth for characters that were originally introduced in the series, and then some. I doubt it will win serious artistic accolades, but as a technical powerhouse, it is a force to be reckoned with.
7/10
Peace,
- Jon
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