Hobbit! \o/
Dec. 14th, 2012 10:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
imbecamiel*squee* Oh yes, it was worth the sleep deprivation. ;D
Some ramblings under the cut... trying to keep it general and non-spoilery. Also happy. Because yes, there may be nits to pick, but I have been looking forward to this for so long, and now I am happy, and not about to go spoiling my own enjoyment by looking for things to be upset over. ^^
First off, the new filming method. I saw it in 2D, and I'm pretty sure that wasn't in the 48fps at my theater, so can't comment on the changes there. In the regular format, everything looked clear and beautiful and, even though I've been getting at least a mild headache pretty well every time I go to the theater lately, I had no issues that way. I do really want to try it at least once in 3D now, but I'm glad I didn't see it that way last night - as tired as I was, I'm pretty sure the sheer number of fast-moving fight scenes would've made me rather sick. *g*
For the movie itself - just, yes. I loved it. I hardly know where to begin. Some of the ways in which they incorporated nods to details in the books, or LOTR movies, made me stupidly happy. Hobbiton, Rivendell... felt like coming home. And in the overall tone, you can see the effort PJ went to to balance the light, sometimes very silly tone of The Hobbit with the gravity of LOTR proper. While for my own taste there were some places where I'd have liked it to lean a leeetle more toward the serious side, overall I think he did a good job of it, and there isn't a feeling of disconnect from the Lord of the Rings movies.
Martin Freeman could not have been any more perfect for Bilbo. <3
Thranduil. o.o Oh yes, I am looking forward to seeing more there. Been very interested to see what they do with him, and now I'm even more so.
I'm not quite so fond of some of the additions involving Radagast, but herm. We shall see there. *shrugs*
The music, oh, the music was gorgeous. I'm crazy about the way he incorporated both new themes and the older ones from LOTR. And the inclusion of some of the dwarf songs from the book could've been so random or odd and it so wasn't and I loved it. I went to two stores today trying to get the soundtrack, because I really hate getting them from iTunes and not having a physical CD, but neither one had it. So now I'm sad.
The partial glimpses of Smaug don't tell much at this point, but are quite promising. I am holding out hope for a Smaug stuffed animal in a year or two. *g*
I think that the "Riddles in the Dark" scene probably got more laughs than any other part. I was not expecting to enjoy seeing Gollum again so much. :D Could not have asked for more from that part, and considering that it was the most memorable part for me when I was first introduced to the book, I'm overjoyed.
But perhaps the biggest surprise and delight for me was - the dwarves. I'm rather ashamed to say it, but before now I've never been able to find them more than, at best, utterly uninteresting, to borderline ridiculous. Yeah, I know they're great warriors and all, and I've got some fondnes for Gimli, but... meh. I did not expect my feelings about them to do such a dramatic turnaround. And no, it was not just the "hot dwarves" effect - although that did come across in a better and more dwarf-like way than my original skeptical reaction anticipated. (With possibly the sole exception of Kili. As attractive as I find him... he really would've been better had be looked a bit more dwarvish.)They just... they didn't blur into an unweildy, indistinguishable cast. The costumes and appearances that I'd originally feared were over-the-top came across well, they were memorable with real personalities, nobility, a real culture, and by the end I found myself just loving all of them. Also, from the first scene I adored the various accents.
And most of all the dwarves... Thorin. I. Am. In. Love. To be honest, I barely even liked him in the books. Just... I don't know. There were a number of things that contributed to me occasionally being annoyed to "meh" about him. But the movie just brought him to life for me. The effective showing of the dwarves' culture and past, his nobility, courage, intelligence - and I could really relate to some of the motivations behind things that'd previously rubbed me wrong. You could definitely see why others would follow him right into a dragon's lair. And I really, really liked the way the evolving dynamics between him and Bilbo were handled. Now I want to re-read the book again, because I think I'd be able to give him a much fairer chance this time.
There are... about a gazillion more things I could say, but at this point I'm pretty much at exactly the place I was when I came out of my first viewing of each of the LOTR movies. I like it, but I'm just so overwhelmed with everything there is to absorb that I can hardly make up my mind how I feel about a lot of things. I've a feeling, though, that a second viewing will do exactly the same as it did with the first ones, and make me fall in love far more than the first time around.
So, because I am a dork... I guess I'll put up costume pictures. Unfortunately, I'm gonna have to dress up again here to actually get proper ones, because for some reason nearly all the ones we got last night were blurred beyond salvation. And I look rather stupid in both the ones that did come out clear enough, and in one of the two Nef's got her eyes shut. *headdesk* But yeah, you can get the general idea of the costumes here, at least:
/semi-coherent ramblings XD
Some ramblings under the cut... trying to keep it general and non-spoilery. Also happy. Because yes, there may be nits to pick, but I have been looking forward to this for so long, and now I am happy, and not about to go spoiling my own enjoyment by looking for things to be upset over. ^^
First off, the new filming method. I saw it in 2D, and I'm pretty sure that wasn't in the 48fps at my theater, so can't comment on the changes there. In the regular format, everything looked clear and beautiful and, even though I've been getting at least a mild headache pretty well every time I go to the theater lately, I had no issues that way. I do really want to try it at least once in 3D now, but I'm glad I didn't see it that way last night - as tired as I was, I'm pretty sure the sheer number of fast-moving fight scenes would've made me rather sick. *g*
For the movie itself - just, yes. I loved it. I hardly know where to begin. Some of the ways in which they incorporated nods to details in the books, or LOTR movies, made me stupidly happy. Hobbiton, Rivendell... felt like coming home. And in the overall tone, you can see the effort PJ went to to balance the light, sometimes very silly tone of The Hobbit with the gravity of LOTR proper. While for my own taste there were some places where I'd have liked it to lean a leeetle more toward the serious side, overall I think he did a good job of it, and there isn't a feeling of disconnect from the Lord of the Rings movies.
Martin Freeman could not have been any more perfect for Bilbo. <3
Thranduil. o.o Oh yes, I am looking forward to seeing more there. Been very interested to see what they do with him, and now I'm even more so.
I'm not quite so fond of some of the additions involving Radagast, but herm. We shall see there. *shrugs*
The music, oh, the music was gorgeous. I'm crazy about the way he incorporated both new themes and the older ones from LOTR. And the inclusion of some of the dwarf songs from the book could've been so random or odd and it so wasn't and I loved it. I went to two stores today trying to get the soundtrack, because I really hate getting them from iTunes and not having a physical CD, but neither one had it. So now I'm sad.
The partial glimpses of Smaug don't tell much at this point, but are quite promising. I am holding out hope for a Smaug stuffed animal in a year or two. *g*
I think that the "Riddles in the Dark" scene probably got more laughs than any other part. I was not expecting to enjoy seeing Gollum again so much. :D Could not have asked for more from that part, and considering that it was the most memorable part for me when I was first introduced to the book, I'm overjoyed.
But perhaps the biggest surprise and delight for me was - the dwarves. I'm rather ashamed to say it, but before now I've never been able to find them more than, at best, utterly uninteresting, to borderline ridiculous. Yeah, I know they're great warriors and all, and I've got some fondnes for Gimli, but... meh. I did not expect my feelings about them to do such a dramatic turnaround. And no, it was not just the "hot dwarves" effect - although that did come across in a better and more dwarf-like way than my original skeptical reaction anticipated. (With possibly the sole exception of Kili. As attractive as I find him... he really would've been better had be looked a bit more dwarvish.)They just... they didn't blur into an unweildy, indistinguishable cast. The costumes and appearances that I'd originally feared were over-the-top came across well, they were memorable with real personalities, nobility, a real culture, and by the end I found myself just loving all of them. Also, from the first scene I adored the various accents.
And most of all the dwarves... Thorin. I. Am. In. Love. To be honest, I barely even liked him in the books. Just... I don't know. There were a number of things that contributed to me occasionally being annoyed to "meh" about him. But the movie just brought him to life for me. The effective showing of the dwarves' culture and past, his nobility, courage, intelligence - and I could really relate to some of the motivations behind things that'd previously rubbed me wrong. You could definitely see why others would follow him right into a dragon's lair. And I really, really liked the way the evolving dynamics between him and Bilbo were handled. Now I want to re-read the book again, because I think I'd be able to give him a much fairer chance this time.
There are... about a gazillion more things I could say, but at this point I'm pretty much at exactly the place I was when I came out of my first viewing of each of the LOTR movies. I like it, but I'm just so overwhelmed with everything there is to absorb that I can hardly make up my mind how I feel about a lot of things. I've a feeling, though, that a second viewing will do exactly the same as it did with the first ones, and make me fall in love far more than the first time around.
So, because I am a dork... I guess I'll put up costume pictures. Unfortunately, I'm gonna have to dress up again here to actually get proper ones, because for some reason nearly all the ones we got last night were blurred beyond salvation. And I look rather stupid in both the ones that did come out clear enough, and in one of the two Nef's got her eyes shut. *headdesk* But yeah, you can get the general idea of the costumes here, at least:
/semi-coherent ramblings XD
