THE HOBBIT is the prequel
to THE LORD OF THE RINGS which had
a long history to make it to the screen as about as long as LORD OF THE RINGS.
The film was held up by MGM's money problems and lost a director before Peter
Jackson decided to go back to the director's chair to direct it like he had
directed the three LORD OF THE RINGS films starting over a decade ago. Somehow
they are stretching it out to a trilogy of films while I can see how they can
make it two films after watching THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY. It brings
back the wonder of watching THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, but I don't think
this film is as good as the LOTR series. It is still an enjoyable experience
even though the first part runs a little long at around two hours and 40
minutes (not including credits). It is good to see new characters and old ones
as fans will enjoy seeing the beginning of the J.R.R. Tolkien saga first
published as a novel in September 1937.
Bilbo Baggins recounts the
tale of the journey that changed
his life and helped push forward the course of events over 60 years. Bilbo remembers
what happens 60 years ago as
Gandalf convinces him to join a company of 13 Dwarves led by Thorin, the son of
a Dwarf King, to reclaim the treasure stolen by the dragon Smaug (after Gandalf
tricks Bilbo in hosting a party). They
battle trolls, hunted by Orcs, and have to visit the Elves (that Thorin shows
no good will towards since the Elves refused to help Thorin reclaim his kingdom
from the dragon). The best part of the
film has to be the game of riddles between Gollum and Bilbo where Bilbo claims
the Ring that will change everything and set forth a quest to destroy it 60
years later.
The New
Zealand
vistas are just as beautiful while the special effects are of mixed results
(while some effects look much better than others). The 3D effect looks
good on the film while
some of the film you can watch without having your 3D glasses on. The
cast bring to life the characters in the
film while Ian McKellan feels like he hasn’t left the role of Gandalf (like it
was yesterday). Peter Jackson is a good
choice to direct THE HOBBIT films since he has wonderfully directed THE LORD OF
THR RINGS trilogy, but I do wonder how Guillermo del Toro’s version of the
films would have been like and yet it has led del Toro to make the robots vs
monster movie PACIFIC RIM.
The extended cut is 13 minutes
longer with some minor scene
extensions and a few new scenes in Rivendale. Given how THE HOBBIT was extended
to three
movies instead of two, future extended editions will probably won’t have too
much new to offer except for hours of extras.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
DISC 1-
Audio commentary
NEW
ZEALAND:
HOME OF MIDDLE-EARTH-
DISC 2-
THE APPENDICES PART 7: A LONG-EXPECTED
JOURNEY- THE
CHRONICLES OF THE HOBBIT PART 1 (4:31:11)-
OPENING (2:42)
THE JOURNEY BACK TO
MIDDLE-EARTH (48:19)
RIDDLES IN THE DARK (17:00)
AN UNEPECTED PARTY (25:28)
ROAST MUTTON (17:12)
BASTION OF GREENWOOD (10:41)-
all about giant rabbits, Sylvester McCoy as Radagast and his unlikely double
Tim Wong
A SHORT REST (29:12)- Hugo
Weaving returns in rock star
fashion, Figwit gets a crash course in Elvish (and barely nails it), Ian
McKellan and Cate Blanchett workshop a scene with Peter Jackson, and Peter
directs Christopher Lee (who tells epic stories about his life), Ian Holm, and
Elijah Wood in London
OVER HILL (13:40)- the cast
gets soaked on set for the Misty
Mountains climb and the planning that goes into the goblin trapdoor scene with
stuntmen
…UNDER HILL (19:15)-
Goblin extras face physical challenges
like first wearing animatronic heads before Peter Jackson decides to mocap the
heads instead and adding digital goblins to the scenes in addition to hijinks
from the goblin extras
OUT OF THE FRYING PAN…
(16:07)
RETURN TO HOBBITON (18:35)
THE EPIC OF SCENE 88 (8:28)
THE BATTLE
OF
MORIA (10:57)
EDGE OF THE WILDERLAND (22:37)
HOME IS BEHIND, THE WORLD AHEAD
(11:40)
CREDITS (3:03)
DISC 3:
THE APPENDICES PART 8: RETURN
TO MIDDLE-EARTH (4:45:19):
THE COMPANY OF THORIN
(1:02:41):
ASSEMBLY THE DWARVES (21:20)-
casting and various screen tests of the actors who were cast (including a
couple who auditioned for Bilbo when they thought they might not be able to use
Martin Freeman as Bilbo due to his commitment to SHERLOCK)
THORIN, FILI & KILI (7:13)/
BALIN & DWALIN (7:20)/ OIN &
GLOIN (4:51)/ DOR, NORI & ORI (12:11)/
BIFUR, BOFUR & BOMBUR (10:03)-
MR. BAGGINS: THE 14TH MEMBER (16:10)- a look at
what Martin Freeman brought to Bilbo, the naughty mischief and middle fingers
he did between takes, and how they decided to work around Freeman’s time off to
do SHERLOCK
DURIN’S FOLK: CREATING
THE DWARVES (57:25)- the process of creating
the dwarves from photoshop, physically realizing the dwarves, and how they kept
the actors cool between takes (air conditioned tent, suits they could plug
cooling hoses to).
THE PEOPLE AND DENIZENS
OF MIDDLE-EARTH (58:09)-
THE STONE TROLLS (12:54)
RANDAGHAST THE BROWN (10:51)-
all about Sylvester McCoy and
his performance as the absent minded nature wizard in addition the look they
created for Randaghast, McCoy trying to slip in a spoon routine into every
character he plays, and how many crew members had a nerd thing going for McCoy
for his performance as the Seventh Doctor
GOBLINS (19:48)
AZOG THE DEILER (14:48)
REALMS OF THE THIRD
AGE: FROM BAG END TO GOBLIN
TOWN (58:59):
HOBBITON (23:41)- a look back
at the first version of
Hobbiton in THE LORD OF THE RINGS to how they created more permanent structures
for Hobbiton in THE HOBBIT and how Peter’s unexpected illness caused an eight
month filming delay of the location which worked to their advantage for the
look of the town in addition to filming Bag End on a soundstage
RHOSGOBEL (5:34)-
a look at the details of Randaghast’s home and a tour of it
RIVENDELL (11:15)- a look at
the creation of RIVENDELL for
the first HOBBIT film and how CGI allowed more freedom compared to the model
work they did for Rivendell for THE LORD OF THE RINGS in addition to making THE
HOBBIT look of Rivendell being more colorful compared to the Fall look seen in
LOTR
THE MISTY
MOUNTAINS
(6:23)- mostly about the CGI of the
Stone Giants
GOBLIN
TOWN
(12:29)
THE SONGS OF THE HOBBIT (32:32-
how they adapted Tolien’s
songs for THE HOBBIT in addition to including parts of various demos for MISTY
MOUNTAINS and the actors contributing in part to the music.
FINAL ANALYSIS: The
extended edition doesn’t add a whole lot to THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY,
but the nine plus hours of making-of extras are worth giving this one a spin in
the blu-ray play (especially the first extras disc since the second extras disc
does feel a little padded in places).
This blu-ray review ©11-12-2013 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted
without permission. Send all comments to
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