So - I went to see the Peter Jackson version of The Hobbit : An Unexpected Journey a few days ago, and have to say that, overall, I am very impressed and highly pleased with the result.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I have been a HUGE Tolkien fan for the best part of forty (yes - forty!) years, and I always approach these film versions with a critical eye toward the poetic license they will undoubtedly take. They did it with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and some of that did not work as well as it should have done. And, having read or listened to many of the preambles leading up to The Hobbit, I knew there were going to be aspects of the adaptation I would not like or find difficult to accept. And there are, but, overall, the package seems to have worked so far!
Yes - I wasn`t too keen on the inclusion and representation of Radaghast the Brown, and the reincarnation of Azog the Terrible, alive and well and masquerading as The Pale Orc! Not really necessary to the storyline. However, the inclusion of the The White Council meeting helped build the link between The Hobbit and LOTR, as did the appearance of many of the cast members from LOTR in the introduction.
But, for me, the biggest pleasers are the majestic representations of the Middle Earth kingdoms, countries and vales, along with the creatures that Tolkien populated his world with. The additional time provided to the director and producers by stretching the relatively small book into three three-hour films allows them to lavish more time to display these lands and creatures in even greater detail than in the LOTR films, and makes the journey even more worthwhile.
Of course, what they fill out with scenery makes the plot even thinner and more tenuous, hence the need to fill the gaps with parts of the Untold Stories and pure fabrications, such as the meetings of The White Council, the trip of Radaghast and his Rhosgobel Rabbits to Dol Guldur, the fabrication of the Morgul Blade of Angmar, and the resurrection of Azog. But, to a student of JRR such as myself, seeing some of these things included gladdens me, but others detract from the tale, and are more of a distraction. But, as I already said, all-in-all, I find the whole package very entertaining and very enjoyable, and not only am I looking forward to Part 2, I am also looking forward to seeing Part 1 again!
Ah, yess, my Preciousss, I want to see that nasty little Hobbitses again!
And I hope you see it too, if you haven't already!
