Can it be 11 years since Middle-Earth first ventured on the big screen? In 2001, Peter Jackson released The Fellowship of the Ring, the first in the Lord of the Rings saga- a movie trilogy that went on to be wildly successful and extremely respected. Fast forward to 2012, and at long last, we get the first Tolkien story in the saga- The Hobbit. Why did it take so long? The director changed a few times, and different studios owned the rights to make and distribute the movie, respectively, so it took a while to work out those squabbles. But, finally, Jackson returned to helm the saga- and decided to break The Hobbit into three movies, the first of which was released a few weeks ago. How did the first installment turn out? Read on, my friend- read on!
I won't get into detailed plot review here; I'll just say that The Hobbit is a story of how Bilbo Baggins joined a small band of dwarves (and Gandalf the wizard) on their quest to reclaim their homeland (the Lonely Mountain- an ancient kingdom called Erebor) from the dragon Smaug. On that journey, Bilbo encounters Gollum, and obtains (quite by accident) the one ring that gets his nephew Frodo into no small degree of excitement many years later in the Lord of the Rings. This time around, since three movies are covering just one novel, Jackson throws in a lot of back-story, too, which is (I'm told) true to Tolkien's universe, but not necessarily discussed in the novel. He's been criticized for that, but I think it's justified (more on that later).
As I watched the movie, I couldn't help but appreciate Jackson's plight. He had a massive following from the first three movies, which raised expectations to wild heights. Now, he had to go back and tell the "origin story" to an audience brimming with anticipation. I think he did a good job- here are a few thoughts (in bullet form, for some reason):
- the movie has many similarities to The Fellowship of the Ring. It features a grand, epic journey, starting from Bag End (the Baggins home), passing through woods, mountains, underground mines, and encountering many people (like dwarves, elves, orcs, goblins, giant eagles).
- the movie is extremely epic. Some say "melodramatic"- and that may be the more appropriate word- but I'll use the word epic. Everything is epic- extremely grandiose. At times, I confess, I thought it overdone, but as I look back on the original trilogy, it mirrors what was done there. So, anybody complaining about that forgets that it's simply a continuation of style from the first three movies.
- some have complained about telling The Hobbit in three parts. I can see two parts, easily- three might be a stretch, but time will tell. It gives Jackson a chance to delve more into this amazing world, and visually present back story only mentioned (or implied) in the books. The Lord of the Rings movies, by necessity, had to omit a large amount of material, so here Jackson gets a chance to include more of the story. I, for one, enjoyed that, and I think fans of Middle-Earth will, too.
- critics have panned this movie, calling it sprawling, overdone, etc. Are they justified? In a sense, I understand, but I think The Hobbit suffers primarily from one thing: overblown expectations. I saw it in the Star Wars prequels, in the final Batman movie (The Dark Knight Rises), and I see it here. When a director produces a movie (or several movies) that blow people away, people expect more, and more, and more. If that same director then creates a movie of the same quality as the others, people are (for some reason) disappointed.
- here, Jackson has a problem- The Hobbit story clearly has less at stake than The Lord of the Rings. In the latter, the fate of Middle-Earth is in the balance; in the former, a small band is trying to reclaim their home. In a sense, I can see people being disappointed for this reason, but again, that's the story, so don't blame the director for that.
Conclusion: if you loved The Lord of the Rings movies, you'll like this one, too. If you found the first three offerings overly dramatic, drawn-out, or boring, you'll feel the same about The Hobbit.
One final comment: a good review (which discusses much of the above in a better manner) can be found here.
Rating: A
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