Caution: This Might Contain Spoilers!
If you enjoy reading my blog, you may enjoy my facebook page!
This film is based off the popular novel, The Hobbit, written by J.R.R. Tolkien. This film, the first of a trilogy, is a prequel story to The Lord of the Rings franchise. Bilbo Baggins receives strange visitors one night after an unusual encounter with Gandalf the Grey. He is persuaded by a group of dwarves to go on an adventure, and help the dwarves reclaim their lost homeland.This film was directed by Peter Jackson. It follows the Hobbit novel fairly well, but it adds more to the story. It is unusual in that this film is designed as a prequel, so much backstory has to be added to make it feel like a prequel. Some of it kind of feels forced, but still purposeful There is a return of some familiar old characters from the LOTR's trilogy. It was good to see that no computer animation was added to the actor's face's to make them appear younger. Even though its awkward seeing a familiar character look older in a prequel. What little computer animation that was used is barely noticeable in the film. However, while feeling more realistic there is still an unearthly feel to it. Now, this film is not meant to be the LOTR's. It's a prequel series. It does not live up to the quality of the LOTR's, because there is a happier more whimsical tone to this film. Since this is the case, the emotional segments have less impact on its audiences. It does not, however, lose any of its visual grandeur. This film, as a beginning, feels more focused on traveling. There are moments for the story to pick-up though. Those moments are greatly done to give the characters strength. This film also gives a new face to orcs and trolls. The orcs actually have dialogue, a history, and a culture! It is great seeing more of the stories history (such as why dwarves and elves do not get along). There are several great battle sequences through-out the film. It was great to watch the fighting done with the backdrops and in different environments with different villains. It is cool to see some familiar locations with some new one areas. The computer animated monsters looked great in this film. The computer animation was well done. This film also includes some great songs. The songs are folk tales and it adds some emotion and historical depth to the film. Okay, this film has a 48fps frame rate. It did create some controversy before its release. It is now being received with minor praise and acceptance.
The cast worked great together, and it was great to see the old cast returning for this prequel. It is great to see new light to familiar characters. However, there are a lot of the dwarves company that feel unimportant. They offer little to the story making impossible to remember names. It is so bad, that some of them do not even have any spoken dialogue. Martin Freeman played the role of (young) Bilbo Baggins. He is a great actor in this film. It is unusual seeing Baggins behaving overly cowardly and proper. Comparing Freeman with Ian Holm is like night and day. Ian McKellen played the role of Gandalf the Grey. He was great in his returning role. He kept his familiar powerful fatherly aspect. He did appear slightly more naive and childish in this film, but it worked perfectly for a prequel. Richard Armitage played the role of Thorin Oakenshield. He was good in his role. It is interesting that his character feels like a leader, but not a king. He is kind of reminiscent of Aragorn. Ken Stott played the role of Balin. He was good in his small supporting role. Andy Serkis played the role of Gollum. William Kircher, James Nesbitt, Stephen Hunter, Dean O'Gorman, Aidan Turner, John Callen, Peter Hambleton, Jed Brophy, Mark Hadlow, Adam Brown played the roles of Dwalin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin, Nori, Dori, and Ori (the remaining dwarves company).
I give this film 5 out of 5 stars! This film is great to watch as an fairytale. It carries on a great legacy for the holidays.
Answer to last blog: Actor Johnny Galecki, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (Winter Holiday), stars as the character Leonard Hofstadter in the Big Bang Theory.
Que: Which dwarf is the father of Gimli from The Lord of the Rings? (To test your nerdy skills, and how well you remember the Fellowship of the Ring.)
Balin
Gloin
Dawlin
Thorin Oakenshield
P.S. Watching this film brought back some memories from when I acted in the stageplay some years ago!
No comments:
Post a Comment