The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

[lunasariel]

So, yeah, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was awesome. As expected.Of course, it was made better seeing it A) three days early and B) in the company of a few of my fellow HoME classmates/instructors (hereinafter HoMEies). I've found that going to the movies alone, especially if it's my first time seeing the movie, and even more so if it's a movie I'm REALLY REALLY EXCITED FOR, is kinda depressing, so it was way beyond awesome to be able to geek out in a group setting. We took BART into Da Big City, and I'm sure we got some weird looks on our way. We had two full costumes and one half-costume (russet knee-breeches, a shirt, and waistcoat, although she was wearing socks and shoes), and, I admit were kinda noisy. We were excited, okay? And it probably doesn't help that we were talking about stuff like Hobbit Week over on the Colbert Report and arguing orc vs. goblin semantics, or just occasionally randomly squeeing whenever someone said, in appropriately gleeful and awed tones, "Guys, we're going to see The Hobbit!" We made it there in decent time, but were bumped back from our original 7:00 showtime to 7:30 since apparently the studio had sent some people over last-minute, so our seats wouldn't have been that good and we wouldn't have been able to sit together. Once we did get in, though, man, security was tight. Like, they had those scanner wands like they have at the airport, and made everybody open their bags and sometimes rifled around inside, and there were all these extremely serious-faced, suit-wearing, earpieced guys standing around inside the theater giving everybody the hairy eyeball. Oh, and we got more than just the usual "as a courtesy to others, please turn off your cellphones" - if they caught anybody with a recording device *of any kind*, or if anybody's phone rang during the movie, they immediately got kicked out, no exceptions. I ended up sitting by the photographer from the class party and asked her if she had any plans to make her work public, and, after I explained the FB problem, she said she'd post a link to her Flickr account, which should be universally accessible, sometime soon, so when she does that, I'll pass it on to you guys.

After the movie, of course, there was a sort of mass geekgasm, which consisted mostly of an awful lot of "OMG CANON REFERENCE!!!", as well as quite a bit of
"Ohmygod, [spoiler] was so awesome!"
"Yeah, did you see [spoiler] when he [spoiler]?"
"He was great! I couldn't believe it when he was all [spoiler]!"
"Totally! And I'm so glad they kept in [spoiler]!"
"Me too! Although what was up with [spoiler]?"
"Good question. And what happened to [spoiler]?".
So, yeah, a lot of very satisfied nerds. We mostly rode BART back, although our lord and master Memo stayed in Da Big City to hang out with his brother, who came with us. The ride back was less "nervous energy" and more "afterglow," but we still talked a lot more than most people do on the train, although now that the immediate "YAY IT DIDN'T SUCK!!!" high had worn off, the tone was a little more critical. And it turns out two of the guys in the group live near me (in fact, one lives a floor above me), so we walked back together and talked more Tolkien geekery, of course, but also things like comic books and Discworld. So, in general, a good time was had by all.

As for the movie itself, I've tried typing up an actual review, but it just ends up being kind of nonsensical and important stuff keeps getting left out, so I'm making a pros and cons list instead.

Non-spoilery review:Let's get this straight: The Hobbit isn't Lord of the Rings. It's a smaller, more cheerful story, with a smaller, more cheerful frame of reference. I think a lot of people were going in and expecting LotR, and being disappointed when they got something different. That said, it didn't blow me out of the water like FotR did (it doesn't have FotR's power or majesty, nor as many of its Grand Thematic Elements), but that's what you get when you adapt a kids' movie - it's tons of fun, it's actually pretty funny, there's plenty of running around and fighting things, and it can be perfectly gripping when it wants to be.

• The casting. Holy mother of god, the casting. Like, you guys don't need me to keep on rhapsodizing about how perfect Martin Freeman is (although this provides some most triumphant vindication, in the form of his too-English-to-complain-but-still-annoyed face, as well as what I call his "right, then" face, where he's getting all decisive and stalwart and hobbitishly courageous), and I don't think anyone will argue when I say that Ian McKellen is the one and only Gandalf for me (especially vis á vis Gandalf the Grey, who was clearly having a great time here. Ian has said that he likes the Grey better than the White because the Grey gets to do things like crack jokes and grumble and get exasperated and everything that shiny White can't do, and Gandalf the Grey was in fully, sassy splendour here), but it was well-cast across the board. Sylvester McCoy was pretty much unrecognizable as Radagast (more on him in a mo'), but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The dwarves, also, were universally well-done.
• Speaking of dwarves, PJ & Co must have had a hell of a time giving them unique looks, personalities, etc., and by and large, they succeeded. Of course, there wasn't enough time to give them all unique character arcs, but they were certainly visually distinctive, and I'm getting to be able to link names to faces pretty well now. Thorin was especially well-done: he's very "a curse on the stiff necks of dwarves!", has a serious thing against elves, and a couple of Berserk Buttons/Stubbornness Buttons the size of Erebor, but he's still a decent guy. He's mistrustful of Bilbo at first (they kept in the grocer line, yay!), but really comes to like and respect him, and takes good care of his people. Oh, and the hot dwarves thing didn't bother me as much as I'd feared.
• I am, of course, a sucker for nakamas, and I'm liking the way this one is developing. I especially liked seeing Bilbo develop from "confustictae and bebother these dwarves!" to that bit that I believe was in one of the trailers/tv spots about him wanting to go home, but the dwarves don't have a home to go back to, so he'll help them reclaim it if he can, because that's just about the most hobbity thing ever - he would much rather not fight, but not having a home is a terrible thing, so he's going to help his friends get theirs back. All together now: d'awwww!
• They took out the "Tra-la-la-lally" song. Thank god.
• They kept in all of the other songs - "That's What Bilbo Baggins Hates" was properly comedic (and was accompanied by some ace choreography, of the dish-throwing/catching variety), "The Song of the Lonely Mountain" was wonderfully haunting and atmospheric (but we already knew that, since it's been in trailers and promos and clips everywhere), and they even got in a stanza or two of the "Yo ho, my lads!" goblin song.
• It was much more comedic and cartoony than LotR, but I actually found this a plus - it's a kids' book, so I like that the movie will appeal more to kids. There are a fair number of butt jokes (especially involving the trolls), and more than a fair number of "lol, Bombur is fat" ones. Which, in the interest of full disclosure, I did laugh at. Because sometimes, ya just gotta let your inner twelve-year-old out. But just in general, there's a lot more slapstick, and more cartoony ways of fighting. The slipped in at least two Getting Crap Past the Radar jokes, though: a balls joke at Bag End (I forget the context) and Saruman implies that Radagast is on shrooms.
• Radagast! Okay, yes, the bunnysled looks a little silly, but it actually won me over - there was one actually extremely badass scene where Thorin and Co. and Radagast are being chased by orcs, and Radagast offers to lead them off. Gandalf objects, because "These are Gundabad wargs!" To which Radagast replies, "Yes, but these are Rhosgobel rabbits!" and actually outruns the warg-riders. LOL! But he was just kind of perfect in general. Like, he's depicted as kind of vague and timid, but I like him, and more than a little odd, but he can bring the dead back to life, which I can't recall Saruman or Gandalf doing. Oh, and he has a hedgehog (friend? pet?) named Sebastian, who he finds infected with the Necromancer's poison and subsequently dies, but then Radagast draws the poison out of him, and he comes back to life. It came up in ikel89's meta discussion post re: children and animals that I'm the easiest mark in the world for "o noez an animal is in danger!!!", so it comes as no surprise that this permanently endeared me to Radagast - he brings cute squeaky little hedgehogs back from the dead; how can I not love him?!
• As predicted, we got a metric ton of stuff from the Appendices, and the vast majority of it, I really liked! Like, we got to see the Battle Before the Gates of Moria where Thrain gets offed by Azog (in an actually kinda creepifying scene) and Thorin gets the epithet Oakenshield. I was over the moon about this, because this is my favorite bit of dwarf-lore, and I was really hoping, although not really expecting, to see it here. We also got more of the White Council, which I suspect is going to be a divisive issue - Cate Blanchett does look a little older, but now she has that neither-old-nor-young look that I've always considered to be very Elven, so this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Ian McKellen is also looking older, but considering the amount of makeup and prosthetics they've got on him, this may very well be intentional. Ironically, Christopher Lee, who is now well into his 90s, actually looks a little younger - they've taken away some of the lines on his face (especially around his mouth) and the deep bags under his eyes that I suspect were put in to make him look ominous in LotR. Oh, and Elrond was there, too. I remember I predicted that they had their work cut out for them in making Hugo Weaving "as kind as summer" and...they kinda succeeded? Like, he seems mildly exasperated with the dwarves, but he mostly interacts with Gandalf, and at least Thorin's he doesn't seem to take blatant anti-elf stance personally.
• There were references to the rest of the canon out the wazoo. Like, when Gandalf gets asked about the other wizards, he talks about Saruman and Radagast, but when he's asked about the two other wizards, he says, "You know, I've quite forgotten their names." XD And there was an Ungoliant reference when Gandalf and Radagast were talking about the increasing presence of spiders in Greenwood Mirkwood, and a little more backstory for the Witch-King of Angmar when Radagast finds a Morgul-blade at Dol Guldur and gives it to Gandalf, who then passes it on to the White Council. Oh, and for a more in-house reference, when Gandalf realizes they lost Bilbo after the Goblin-town episode, he immediately asks Dori where he is, because it was always Dori carrying Bilbo in the books. There were a couple of more oblique references that I'm not even sure were references, too. Like, Thrain's wild success in gathering treasure, ensuing miserdom, and eventual sticky end sound an awful lot like he had one of the seven dwarf-rings, and that it was quite probably destroyed by Smaug. Also, and this is pure speculation on my part (and the part of several of my HoMEies), but the Arkenstone could very well be a Silmaril - we know that one went up with Eärendil, one fell into the sea and was lost, but the one that Maedhros took fell into some huge crack in the earth with him, and supposedly was never seen again. But the Arkenstone certainly came from under the earth, and it's not inconceivable that tectonic movement (or the Valar, or whatever) brought it under Erebor, and it seems to have a very Silmaril-like, covetous effect on people.
• As you may be able to tell, there's a fair amount of change to the plot. Not only is all the White Council/Radagast stuff added, but Thorin is given this whole subplot where Azog was not killed in the battle where Thorin got his epithet, but only lost his arm (and, inexplicably, replaced it with what looks like a toasting fork), but still lives, in Dol Guldur no less (he may or may not be working with Sauron/The Necromancer), and has it out for Thorin, and for dwarves in general. So he sends orcs/warg-riders after them once or twice, and shows up himself in a scene that replaces the "fifteen birds in five fir trees" (see below) for a fight with Thorin and, unexpectedly, Bilbo. I don't know whether I'm entirely on board with this change, since it's not like they don't have enough enemies, but I can see it being taken interesting places. And at least he looks quite cool and creepy, as befits a Weta creation.
• Speaking of Weta creations, the creatures/CGI were excellent, especially when it came to the villains. The Great Goblin was sort of flabby and pale and kind of gangrenous, the wargs had this cool thing where their eyes reflect light like cats, and the orcs/goblins were, well, orcs/goblins (there was one especially cool-looking little dude in the court of the Great Goblin, who looked like something straight out of Labyrinth). We only got, like, 10 or 15 seconds of the Necromancer, but they did a great job building up his creepiness. Azog, called either the Defiler or the Pale Orc or both, was actually the most human-looking of the bunch - no hair, but his biggest deformities were a bunch of scars from what look like warg claws (or bear claws, if Beorn is getting worked into this?) and the toasting fork hand. His voice actor was excellent, though. I mean, I'm not going to call him one of the great monsters of cinema, nor one of the great villains, but he's a good sub-main Dragon type to fill up the time until we get to the Big Bads.
• Gollum (I didn't want to put him firmly in the villains category, poor little nutball). One of the reasons I can't wait for the extended edition/extras is I'm really hoping to see the un-CGI'd footage of Andy Serkis acting the riddle game scene, because that was *amazing*. The way he transferred between Sméagol and Gollum was half-funny (it was much more marked than LotR, and also played more for laughs) and half creepy. Actually, Gollum was much more creepy in general - his eyes also do the scary reflected-light thing, and when he does that sort of hissing, roaring, snapping thing with the spidery limbs flailing everywhere...yeek.
• We have dwarf woman confirmation! There was one fleeing Erebor, and, I regret to report, dwarf women do not, in fact, have beards. This one had a purple dress. Oh, well, at least we do now know that, in fact, dwarves do not just spring up out of holes in the ground.
• Like with LotR, this one starts off with an intro/flashback to get us acquainted with the goings-on. It sets the scene of "yay dwarves! Yay Thrain! Yay Thror! Yay Thorin! Yay other dwarves who you probably shouldn't get too attached to! Yay gold! Yay happy and prosperous men of Dale!", swiftly followed by the destruction of Erebor and Dale (although we don't get a good look at Smaug, which I'm sure was done on purpose, the teases), and I'm glad they moved it up here. Otherwise it would have had to be told in flashback form when the dwarves sing the Song of the Lonely Mountain at Bag End, which would have meant a very limited time and perspective. Here, though, we got to see a lot more: the discovery of the Arkenstone, some pre-Smaug dwarven life, a very neat metalworking montage, and the beginning of Thrain's (apparently hereditary) monomania for wealth.
• As expected from a Peter Jackson movie, we got plenty of scenery porn of New Zealand. I actually expected a Fellowship shot at one point, but we never got one (I guess it would have taken too long XD). But there was still plenty of tromping about through the wilds, and hot damn, is NZ beautiful!
• Of course, the music was fantastic! Even aside from the songs mentioned above, it was all fantastic - a lot of it was heavy on the percussion and deep-voiced chanting, as befits dwarves. This actually provided a great, and very funny, counterpoint to a scene in Rivendell where the elves are playing harps and flutes and things while the dwarves are eating and kind of glowering at them, because how do you know it's music if you don't get to hit anything, it's not about gold, and it doesn't get you pumped up for battle?
• Apparently there was quite some linguistic development done, since entire conversations are carried out in what appears to be the Black Speech (unless goblins have some other language of their own). Not being much of a linguist, I can't really tell how well these developments stack up, but developments there must have been, since I only recall Tolkien giving us a few words in LotR, and fewer complete sentences.
• The movie ended exactly where I predicted. Well, almost. See below re: Eagles for what actually happens.

Cons

• Benedict Cumberbatch was listed in the credits as The Necromancer, but all we saw onscreen was a vaguely biped-shaped smoky image that kind of waved its arms and made some spooky noises. Boooo. Teases.
• The hot dwarves thing didn't bother me, but Thorin got a lot of glamour shots. A LOT. I mean, I get it when he's being introduced, and we need to get his importance established. But what with flashbacks and everything, there must have been five or six of those things - dramatic turns, looking off to the side as his hair blows in the wind and he gazes mysteriously into the distance, the whole shebang, and usually against some sort of impressive backdrop. Like, okay, we get it, he's the big shiny hero, no need to beat us over the head with it.
• Starting with the Goblin-town episode, things start changing pretty drastically. Bilbo decides to leave the group after being belittled by Thorin just before the goblins show up, but escapes when all the other dwarves are captured. He falls down into some sort of crevice, and the riddling game proceeds as normal while the dwarves are dealing with the goblins. Speaking of which, the Great Goblin looks appropriately grotesque. But they lost that iconic image of the hall going dark, and then a burst of red flame rising up; Gandalf just does one of his usual flash-bangs. Bilbo still loses all of his nice brass buttons, but in running from Gollum (he doesn't figure out the Ring's power for much longer than in the book, and Gollum chases him as a thief). In fact, there aren't even any guards on the door, and Bilbo sees the Company run out, leaps over Gollum (after deciding not to kill him), and follows them. And then the "fifteen birds in five fir trees" bit is almost completely cut out - after Wargs knock over the other trees in a kind of domino thing, they all end up in one tree, which in turn ends up dangling over a cliff. Azog shows up, Thorin goes to fight him but gets his ass kicked, Bilbo (the bravest little hobbit of them all, dont'cha know) goes to defend him, and then the Eagles Ex Machina (who Gandalf has summoned using his usual moth trick, although it looks like this time it's a butterfly) show up and save the day. And it looks like we're skipping the eyrie scene, too - they seem to be deposited straight onto the Carrock, although it isn't explicitly identified as such. And I can let go of the eyrie, if I have to (AUJ already runs at 2 1/2 hours), but, dude, I wanted to see a Guillermo Del Toro-influenced, Peter Jackson/Weta-constructed take on the whole scene - the fire, the song, the wargs, all of it.
• The 3D left me with a bit of a headache, so those of you who are sensitive to such, beware! Also, and this may have been because I was wearing my glasses and not my contacts, but a lot of the faster tracking shots got kind of blurry and difficult to follow, with so many layers of 3D swooping in and out all over the place.
• I totally thought that they were leaving Azog alive so that he could turn up again as the Great Goblin, but I guess not.
• Still no Glorfindel, boooo. They had the perfect opportunity, too - there was a scene where Gandalf, Bilbo, and the dwarves are about to be overcome by warg-riders, and then a bunch of elves swoop down and save their bacon. This is exactly Glorfindel's thing! I mean, it's kind of a step down from Balrogs in Gondolin, but dammit, I wanted to see Glorfindel take names and kick ass!
• There was a slight continuity error where Thorin & Co. were being chased by Azog & Co. after escaping from Goblin-town, and Bilbo draws sting, but it doesn't light up, even though the orcs are rather too close for comfort. Oh, and in that vein, Glamdring and Orcrist never glow at all, even though I'm pretty sure they do in the book(s).
• I mentioned Thorin's anti-elf stance earlier, and there was this one very odd scene in the intro where Thranduil and a bunch of armored elves are on a cliff not too far from where Smaug is setting Dale on fire and killing all the dwarves, but when the dwarves call out to him for help, he turns around and leaves. Like, why would he bring an entire army there just to turn around and leave, if he didn't intend to help? Why would he bring an entire army there in the first place, since Smaug's attack was so unexpected? And why would he *not* help the men of Dale, if not the dwarves? I get that Thranduil is kind of paranoid and isolationist, but, dude, you're *right* there, and these guys are vital to your economy - the dwarves make you shinies as well as armor and weapons, and the men of Dale provide you with food and, more importantly, wine. (This is, of course, assuming that Lake-town fills about the same economic niche as Dale did.)
• This is just a little nitpicky thing, but Gandalf didn't get to do his ventriloquism trick on the trolls. Bilbo does some fast talking instead, which is funny in itself, but I do love to see some of Gandalf's more tricksterish aspects, so I missed this.

WTF?

• Thranduil rides a moose. Just gonna leave that there.

ETA: All fangirl squeeing aside, there has been some somber news, too. Ian McKellen recently revealed that he has prostate cancer, and while he says that it's highly unlikely that it's fatal, "cancer" is always a scary word. So I'm going to take a page from Wil Wheaton's book and say "fuck cancer," and wish Sir Ian a speedy and as-painless-as-can-be recovery.

Comments

[hamsterwoman]

That's awesome that we get to see the battle before Moria (and Thrain! who is my favorite Dwarf, 'cos that's how I roll >.>)

several of my HoMEies

LOL, best collective nickname ever XP

and, I regret to report, dwarf women do not, in fact, have beards.

Blasphemy! :O

Thranduil rides a moose. Just gonna leave that there.

LOLwut

Thank you for the detailed and spoilerrific rundown! Can't wait to see it myself, but it's good to be able to mentally prepare myself for some of the changes already. (Also, I didn't realize your screening was in the City. Was it at a commandeered theater or some special hidey-hole?)

And, aww, I hadn't heard about Ian McKellen :( I hope he will be alright!

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

(and Thrain! who is my favorite Dwarf, 'cos that's how I roll >.>)
Then you're going to be very happy! Thrain looks very cool, especially in the intro sequence. Unfortunately, he doesn't get much screentime after that, but the Dol Guldur thing is pretty heavily hinted at, and I'm hopeful that we'll be able to see it in a flashback in the next movie.

best collective nickname ever
It is! I wish I had thought of this sometime during the regular semester, because we could have done t-shirts, or at least buttons/bumper stickers. Or, y'know, just something to address each other by in the theater, if we weren't already eccentric enough for wearing costumes and having long, involved arguments over how to pronounce "Smaug." XD

Blasphemy! :O
I know, right? How can you have dwarves without beards?!

LOLwut
Or possibly an elk or a reindeer or something (I just like saying "moose," okay?). All I know is that he was sitting on top of some sort of large antlered herbivore looking all haughty and srsbznz. I...just...yeah. So that happened.

Was it at a commandeered theater or some special hidey-hole?
Comandeered. It was at the shopping center on top of the Powell St. BART station, and I kind of instinctively tried to get off at Embarcadero. XD

[hamsterwoman]

Having watched it myself now, a few more comments:

and Gandalf the Grey was in fully, sassy splendour here

Yes! I loved that he got annoyed at the Dwarves, and especially when he stalked off in a huff to talk to the only person with any sense around here :D (that was always one of my favorite quotes in LotR, so).

he's very "a curse on the stiff necks of dwarves!"

This quote kept running through my head like 70% of the time Thorin was on screen, so, well done them!

a balls joke at Bag End (I forget the context)

Croquet :D

and Bilbo draws sting, but it doesn't light up, even though the orcs are rather too close for comfort. Oh, and in that vein, Glamdring and Orcrist never glow at all, even though I'm pretty sure they do in the book(s).

I noticed that too, especially about Glamdring and Orcrist not glowing, and wondered. Dunno if they just thought it would look silly on a full-sized sword. But, yeah, it bugged me.

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

he stalked off in a huff to talk to the only person with any sense around here
LOL! I kinda got the feeling that Ian McKellen really had fun with that scene, getting to throw his hands up dramatically and stomp off in a huff. And, yeah, it really is one of those archetypal Gandalf (the Grey, anyway) quotes.

This quote kept running through my head like 70% of the time Thorin was on screen
Heh, it wouldn't surprise me to learn that PJ & Co. had it in mind when designing him.

Croquet :D
Aha! There we go.

Dunno if they just thought it would look silly on a full-sized sword.
Hmm, I guess I could see that being their logic. But I think they could have pulled it off- it doesn't have to be neon blue, and they could have done something interesting, visually speaking, with the glow lighting up Gandalf's and/or Thorin's face(s).

[brit-columbia.livejournal.com]

I'm so looking forward to seeing this movie. Of course it's been decades since I read the book. Maybe I should read it again before I go.

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

Maybe I should read it again before I go.
I would really recommend it! I did, and I found it useful in the extreme. It's a quick, easy read, and it really helps - the nitpicky stuff gets on one's nerves more, it's true, but it's also much easier to spot the subtle references, and it's really interesting to do a post-mortem compare/contrast kind of thing. Oh, and if you do end up going to see it with your father or someone, you can look really smart, which I enjoyed doing. XD

[brit-columbia.livejournal.com]

Oh, and if you do end up going to see it with your father or someone, you can look really smart, which I enjoyed doing. XD

Well, I will definitely be going to see it with him, unless my sister swoops down and bears him off to the theatre in my absence. And hey, who doesn't enjoy looking really smart? Gotta grab every opportunity. I'm sure there must be an old copy of that book somewhere in this house.

[ikel89.livejournal.com]

I loved reading all your impressions and can't wait to compare them as soon as we see the movie here (but moose wtf!:) I'm a bit torn on re-reading the book before or after the movie, but I guess that I'll reread it after, seeing how Dasha basically agreed to give me a pretty copy of Hobbit for NY =P

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

Can't wait to read your, thoughts, too! And yeah, the moose (although I've heard that it's actually an Irish Elk. But w/e, if it looks like a moose and quacks like a moose, then it's a moose) was a very WTF moment, but, at least for me, it comes right out the other side of stupid and circles back around into cracky awesome.

I guess that I'll reread it after, seeing how Dasha basically agreed to give me a pretty copy of Hobbit for NY
I found it useful to read beforehand, but a post-mortem reread kind of thing would be really useful, too, especially if one is being gifted with a pretty copy of the book in the near future. ;) And for a second, I read NY as New York, not New Year, so I was about to flail about omg how lucky you get to travel so much New York is gorgeous you have to do this and this and this...before re-reading it and realizing what you really meant. XD

[ikel89.livejournal.com]

ROFL at NY confuzzle XDD Unfortunately, I'm not as lucky a traveller, so most frequently NY=New Year indeed:D

I'm actually looking forward to seeing that moose, even if just to thwart the ridiculous images my brain has come up with =P

[mauvais-pli.livejournal.com]

Loved reading your write-up now that I've seen it!

I loved that glimpse of the dwarf woman and was straining to see more, but alas!

Thranduil showing up to flash his killer profile was weird as anything -- as was Elrond chasing orc bands, to be perfectly honest, and the latter bugged me more (judging u Jackson). Especially since we got NO Glorfindel and NO Elladan and Elrohir which seemed possible for about a moment there when the Elves were riding into the courtyard (the pretty pretty shots of Elves and Rivendell shiny and the falls of Bruinen, if perhaps overly dramatic, sort of made up for that, though as much as I love the gorgeous gorgeous shots of Rivendell, I would have LOVED to see and actual Hall of Fire -- like, how hard is it to make an indoors set for the Elves? Rivendell is not California, they don't have to be ALL airy).

This actually provided a great, and very funny, counterpoint to a scene in Rivendell where the elves are playing harps and flutes and things while the dwarves are eating and kind of glowering at them, because how do you know it's music if you don't get to hit anything, it's not about gold, and it doesn't get you pumped up for battle?
This! XD

I'm most annoyed by Azog and related shenanigans re: wargs attacks, both for canon-screw and the Hobbit plot, but well, I can deal. What I cannot deal with is flipping geography and Radagast showing up hell knows where? and secret passages to Rivendell in the middle of wild flatland? I LOVED THE ROSGOBEL RABBITS LINE THO. MIRKWOOD REPRESENT U FOOLS!

HOW PERFECT WAS GOLLUM. OH SO PERFECT!

tl;dr I loved ALL THE DWARFS, and I slightly wish Bilbo would have more scenes and everybody less, including less Gandalf being dramatic, but three movies, not gonna happen, whatever.

tl;dr futher I loved getting to see it more than anything, and made noises, and exasperated both K & A by unapologetically investing it with more power than a kids movie about hot dwarves should have but W/E YOLO The Hobbit is epic and thus I'm content! ..and now you've born the first wave of my Hobbit initial reaction feels! sorry :P

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

Especially since we got NO Glorfindel and NO Elladan and Elrohir which seemed possible for about a moment there when the Elves were riding into the courtyard
IKR? They had a perfect opportunity, and it wouldn't have taken more than two seconds of "oh, hey, here are my sons, and here's my buddy Glorfindel." Glorfindel could have even identified Glamdring and Orchrist, since they both came from Gondolin!

Rivendell is not California, they don't have to be ALL airy
Haha, while I was watching the movie for the umpteenth time, I started to wonder what they did when it rained, because they would have to move all the cusions and books and things inside, otherwise they would get all soggy and moldy (unless Vilya somehow prevents mold and/or inclement weather, on top of protecting Rivendell).

I LOVED THE ROSGOBEL RABBITS LINE THO. MIRKWOOD REPRESENT U FOOLS!
YES! Don't mess with Mirkwood-bred animals, I tells ya. Even the rabbits are badasses!

unapologetically investing it with more power than a kids movie about hot dwarves should have
*fistbump* Hey, if getting over-invested in a kids' movie based on a book written before my parents were born is wrong, I don't wanna be right.

Thanks for letting me be privy to your first outpouring of Hobbit feels! :D I love sharing squee (and criticism) about awesome stuff like this.