We have been chatting excitedly and waiting for this film for a long time. We have wondered how it can be stretched into three parts, and been curious about whether 48 frames per second is all it is cracked up to be. Well I saw the movie twice last weekend and I'm ready to throw down my opinion.
One of the best aspects of Tolkien's novel is how it serves as an entry point into the world of Middle-Earth. We get to see and experience everything with Bilbo's fresh eyes. All of that same charm and humor is present in the film. Martin Freeman does a beautiful job portraying Bilbo as reluctant, confused and totally out of his element. However, these great moments are clouded by a bunch of extra plot points that writer/director Peter Jackson has thrown into the mix in order to show a stronger connection between this story and the previous films. This is a great idea, but a running time of just under 3 hours is a little much and most of these sub-plots (for those who have not read the book, it is pretty much every scene Bilbo is not in) fall flat. The "Lord of the Rings" movies were all extremely long but Jackson knew how to keep the stakes high and I never found myself bored. I cannot say the same for "The Hobbit".
I saw this film Saturday in regular old-fashioned 24 fps 2-D and felt kind of bored. Since I knew I was writing a review on this and wanted to give the film a fair shake, I saw it again yesterday in the much-hyped high frame rate 3-D (It's all for you, Damien). My conclusion... not so great. The overload of detail is jarring and in many instances everything looks sped up, the makeup does not hold up and the digital effects do not blend well with the live-action shots, and in the end I felt as if I was watching a mix between a half-decent video game and the early '90s Wonderworks Narnia mini-series (which I adore, but only because they were made twenty years ago on a British TV budget). Sorry, Satan. I know I just made you cry.
So in conclusion, parts of this film are very good while other aspects are just fluff and you are better off seeing it in good ole-fashioned 24 frames per second. As Christopher Walken would say: "I got a fever, and the only cure is MORE BILBO!"
And now for the nonsensical ratings:
8 Tiger-Socks, 2 1/4 Waffles, and a Full Swig of Ale
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