The Problem With The Hobbit Movies

[nosweargamer]

I really liked the LOTR films, but I must admit that The Hobbit trilogy didn't do much for me.

This video fascinated me and may help explain why me and other LOTR fans didn't take as strongly to the Hobbit films:

Lack of pre-production.

Turns out whereas the LOTR films were planned years in advance, The Hobbit films were made on the fly with even the director not knowing exactly what was supposed to happen next.

[Rowsdower70]

There was too much going on, too many liberties being taken with the story.     There should have been one movie to rule them all, not a trilogy. 

 

 

To me the definitive Hobbit movie will always be the Rankin/Bass cartoon.

[AlamoAtari]

There were shining parts in the movies, that were the good bits that were planned and followed the original story. I liked them, but, sadly, they fall to the pit of despair like Star Wars prequels.

[LeeJ07]

God, I LOVE The Princess Bride!!!

[Bakerman]

God, I LOVE The Princess Bride!!!

So do I. Have you seen the TV family sitcom 'The Goldbergs'? It's all about growing up in the 80's and they have an episode centered on 'The Princess Bride'. It's on Hulu too. It's actually a really good show, that I'm sure anyone that grew up in the 80's (e.g., most of us) can relate too. Every episode is centered around something famous or infamous from the 80's. One huge oversight, at least to me, was in one of the Goldberg's episodes it had the boys making a music video, and to my horror, they were using Green Screens in the Background! Does anyone else remember that they didn't use Green Screens back then?!? It was ALL BLUE SCREENING!

 

Back on topic, I like anything based on Tolkien's Middle Earth, and I really like the Hobbit movies. Sure, not as much as Lord of The Rings, but I actually did like that it was split into a trilogy because they could fit more of the book in it, where with LOTR, too much was skipped from the books. But yes, I also did feel a bit "less" in someway about the Hobbit movies too. I think it just comes down to the fact that 'The Hobbit' was more of an interesting fantasy story introduction to Middle Earth, instead of an epic like Lord of The Rings. But that's the way the original books were too, and meant to be. The Hobbit introduced us to Middle Earth, and Tolkien, and then later he wrote the "epic" LOTR once he got established. He was growing and maturing as a writer.

[RickR]

"The Hobbit" book is more light-hearted than "The Lord of the Rings".  But the movie version of the "Hobbit" seems to forget this.  It's dark and serious...and frankly way too long.  But that's just my opinion.  9 hours of movie is just a butt-buster for me.  No thanks. 

[LeeJ07]

Well, I can see it both ways. Yes, the movies were darker than the book, but, on the other hand, expanding the story allowed for a greater depth of story using Tolkien's own writings.

 

Case in point: The Necromancer. In "The Hobbit" novel, the Necromancer is only mentioned twice, almost as a throw away reference. Very few people reading the novel realize that Tolkien linked the Necromancer to Sauron. In Tolkien's extensive writings, that link was made explicit, and Peter Jackson realized that. I can appreciate the effort put forth to make that link clear.

 

Also, Smaug was SPOT ON, exactly as I'd always imagined.

[MaximumRD]

So do I. Have you seen the TV family sitcom 'The Goldbergs'? It's all about growing up in the 80's and they have an episode centered on 'The Princess Bride'. 

 

Oddly I just discovered the Goldbergs a couple days ago, I was not expecting much honestly but I clicked to watch the pilot and am hooked, they capture the 80's so damn well it is crazy and by the end when they showed clips of the fathers real family and you know it is actually based on his family and growing up in the 80's so that is pretty cool. 

[Arenafoot]

Oddly I just discovered the Goldbergs a couple days ago, I was not expecting much honestly but I clicked to watch the pilot and am hooked, they capture the 80's so damn well it is crazy and by the end when they showed clips of the fathers real family and you know it is actually based on his family and growing up in the 80's so that is pretty cool. 

Yeah I watched the pilot episode when it originally aired and loved it ever since! I've missed several episodes between then and now but its still a great comedy.

 

The next good one (I hope) is NBC's new series "Superstore". Being in retail for over 26yrs and actually working for a store in the early 90's called "The Real Superstore", I can relate to this show just from the previews.