A few days before Christmas I saw part
one of Peter Jackson's film version of The Hobbit. Since I've
already blogged about the book, I thought I'd add a few comments
about the movie.
Before giving some specific criticisms
I should say that I generally liked the film. It would be hard for me
not to; I was already a fan of Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies,
and many of the same positive elements found in the LOTR films are
also present in The Hobbit: beautiful scenery, a believable mythos,
and a moral foundation that makes it easy to recognize and cheer for
the “good side.” I don't want the fact that I criticize
particular aspects of the film to get in the way of my general
enthusiasm for it; I am glad this film was made and look forward to
seeing it again.
Now to the critique. First, the scene
with the mountain giants was gratuitous and unnecessary. It was a
pointless expansion of the book's story, and made a long movie longer
than it needs to be. It does not advance the plot. I also don't want
to be reminded of Rock'em Sock'em robots when I am supposed to be in
Middle-earth, and unfortunately that's the visual impression I had.
The appropriate approach here would have been to let the characters
hear and then see the giants as they do in the book, express their
amazement and fright as some rocks hit too close, and then head on
into the cave.
Second, has anyone associated with
making this movie ever fallen more than six or eight feet? The
repeated scenes of dwarves, goblins, and Bilbo falling for hundreds
of feet and then landing with no harm done were ridiculous. This
happens (in another pointless change from the book) when the party
enters the goblin caves and the crack in the cave floor opens; it
happens again to Bilbo and a goblin shortly after that. Any body
remotely similar to any animal on earth falling that far would hit
with a splat. While I learned suspension of disbelief from Tolkien as
much as from anyone, your physics, like your magic, have to apply
consistently in your fantasy world for it to believable. Jackson's
film lacks visual consistency in this regard.
Third, Radagast is overdone. While I
agree with the general decision to make him an on-screen character in
the film, rather than one who is briefly mentioned as in the book, he
is too silly. With Radagast, Jackson runs the danger of committing
the Jar Jar Binks mistake: making a character who is supposed to be
agreeable one who is despised instead. For me, Lucas and the latter
Start Wars films never recovered from Jar Jar Binks (or weak dialog).
I hope Radagast doesn't make the remaining hobbit films equally
joke-worthy. I am ready to have sympathy for a mushroom-munching
nature-mystic wizard, but over the top is just that.
Given those problems, I will go back
to my previous remark, that I do like the film and look forward to
the remaining two parts. I hope the silliness level decreases;
Tolkien deserves it, and so do ticket buyers.