The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

[purplecat]

I realise I'm somewhat late to the party on this one, but there wasn't quite enough buzz about the first Hobbit movie when it came out to persuade us it was worth the time and effort involved in getting to a cinema, so we only just saw it, courtesy of LoveiFilm.

I'd seen a lot of complaints online about Sylvester McCoy's Radagast, but I quite liked him. I'm not sure if that was because I'd been dreading it, or just that I've always been partial to McCoy, rating his Doctor among my favourites.

On the other hand, I hadn't realised quite how dire the troll sequence was going to turn out. It seems like quite a minor incident in the books, so I wasn't really expecting it to be something to which I would or could object. It was Bilbo actually getting caught by the trolls that I particularly disliked. In the book, although it isn't exactly Bilbo's finest hour, it at least emphasises his quickness and quietness, and he isn't quite the liability he's made out to be here.

However, overall, I was pleasantly surprised. I suspect going into it with low expectations helped, since it is, undeniably, over-long and self-indulgent but once you accept that fact then it's pretty to look at; Martin Freeman is, well, Martin Freeman as Bilbo which isn't necessarily a bad thing; I liked the view we got into the politics of the White Council and I'm actually quite looking forward to see what Jackson does with Dol Guldur.


... a lot better than expected.

Comments

[daniel-saunders.livejournal.com]

I liked it and I liked McCoy (although, like you, I like him as the Doctor too). I even saw it in the cinema, which is rare for me! Martin Freeman was great too. It is far too long, though, although it seems to me that almost every film is too long these days (maybe that's just me).

[purplecat]

TBH, we don't watch a lot of modern movies, the LoTR movies were long but I felt mostly justified their length. I think the last movie we saw in the cinema was Brave, but I suspect children's movies operate to different rules about length. We've recently watched most of the movies in the Marvel franchise, and I didn't feel they outstayed their welcome in the way The Hobbit did.