Middle Earth Ranger Forum

Alrighty! Well that was a fun ride!

I got shivers just about every time a major event I knew was coming approached. It was wonderful, in that way.

I'm a bit disappointed with the Orcs/Goblins...I feel like they used so much CG this time around that it took a little bit of the realism out of it. I liked the almost exclusively Prosthetic mask Orcs in the LOTR Trilogy, and the overwhelming CG here made parts of it seem a little too Cartoonish.

That being said, I loved it, in other ways. The cartoonish-ness lent it a certain jovial quality that the Hobbit is supposed to have, from the book's perspective. It seemed dark and serious when it needed to be, but gave us plenty of laughs to remind me that it IS still, in fact, a story for children. The movie isn't, necessarily, but the book was, and they kept that present, for the most part.

And good lord, I loved the score.

Fire away!

I would like to have seen the part where Bilbo finds the ring match the FOTR prologue, just because. Other than that, my only complaint is that we have to wait another year for the next one...

I agree. It describes him stumbling around in the darkness, and that's what they showed in the prologue. That would've been nice.

Going to see it tonight with the family. Hopefully I'll have my own review in the morning. Which do you recommend: normal viewing, or 3D?

I did 3D, and it was pretty great. Some people have issues with dizziness, etc., but my wife has before and didn't this time, so if that's an issue for you, you could still probably handle it.

I'm kind of worried about my wife and son more than myself and daughter. We'll see which show we can catch when we get there.

The 3D was excellent and Brandwyn used to have a lot of problems with it, but the actual technology has gotten so much better that it does not effect her physically anymore. I think they are using it as a tool to tell a more vivid story instead of a novelty to make you go ooh, ahh!

I was very happy to watch the dwarven ensemble and see the scenes of Erebor and the culture of Thror and Thrain. It made more sense as to why Thorin was more of a prince than the elder dwarf we have always seen him as. In this telling they give the Dwarven culture much more variety, which I can appreciate. I loved the way the Dwarves fought and the weapons they used, the whole escape from the great Goblin was so remeniscent of the way Gimli fought in the chamber of Marzarbul that it meshed perfectly for me. And I simply went crazy when seeing the armor of the Erebor Guads during the occupation of Smaug!

It seems when you are smaller but strong you count on uncanny timing and luck more often than not! lol

Wasn't that Strider's ranger sword on the wall in Bilbo's hole at the beginning? It sure looked familiar.

I was thinking the same thing. There were swords on the wall in ROTK, ill have to check that too.

I am pretty sure they are the same ones, a scimitar- ish dark one and a strait sword but for some reason I didn't think it was a hand and a half but more of a standard one handed arming sword. They took great pains in recreating the "orininal Bag End" even down to Frodo's costume before he jumped in Gandalf's cart, and at that time Strider was not even known to the Hobbits. (not to say Bilbo might not have met Aragorn at Imladris or any other ranger) but other than behind the scenes decor play, why would you think they would have any plot driven reason to put it there?

I try to identify the swords every time I watch Return of the King. Neither are prominent swords from the movies, I know that much. I always assumed that the curved one was an Easterling's sword, but I could never figure out the straight one. Since they are in the Hobbit, though, they must not have been souvenirs from Frodo's travels, but Bilbo's. Does anyone know if they were shown during the Unexpected Party? If they were only shown in the intro, there's a chance we might see Bilbo getting them.

In any event, the movie was amazing. I saw it at midnight in 3d and I'm planning to see it in Imax 3d HFR on Sunday. I do wish they would have stuck with the prosthetics for the orcs, since that gave them so much realism from LOTR. Gollum looked even better, but they can't spend the same amount of time doing every single little orc as they can on him. I was a little disappointed that they decided to go with so much more of a fantasy feel to the movie. LOTR was so grounded in terms of the art style, but the Erebor dwarves in particular (except for Thorin's company) looked too Dungeons and Dragons-ish to me. I still loved it though. It's right up there with LOTR in terms of my favorite movies. Probably second after all three.

I saw the movie last night and loved it! I went with my Church group and one boy dressed up as a Hobbit while I dressed up as Gandalf! I wasn't able to see it in 3D but it was still amazing! One of my favorite parts was when they escaped the Pale Orc there at the end. I don't know why but I just really liked that scene.
I agree with theowl though, I don't want to have to wait a whole nother year before the second comes out.

Alright, second viewing done. I take back what I said about the dwarves and the cgi. Taking a better look at the armor, it does fit in with the overall art style of the films. The cgi managed to hold up even in Imax HFR somehow, which impressed me. I can't wait to see it again.

I saw it last night and really enjoyed it. I was a bit apprehensive about the dwarves at first bit really grew to like them. I loved the whole "Riddles in the Dark" sequence and I thought that they did a good job with the meeting of the White Council. It did a lot to set up for LOTR, especially Sauruman's "lack of concern" for the Necromancer.
I accept the fact that they had to Hollywood it up by adding the whole being chased by orcs thing, although I'm not totally happy about it. I think that they should have gone with Bolg as the lead orc instead of Azog though. Azog was dead by this time, having being killed by Dain, and Bolg lead the orc army in the Battle of Five Armies.

I will say this...forgot to mention it. Though the Thorin-Azog rivalry isn't exacly book-accurate, I absolutely LOVED how they depicted his being named Oakenshield. It was absolutely stunning.