In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.
- "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien
I first read The Hobbit when I was in grade two. In 1994 that book wasn't even available in my elementary school, but my teacher ordered it for me because no other books were challenging. Plus my active imagination needed to compete against a literary master. In 2009 I read that book at Brock University again for Popular Narrative and Children's Literature - weird, eh?
Peter Jackson is managing to take a whole book and slice it into three parts - he, like the rest of Hollywood, sees the values of a series - and I think it is important this book is not left to just one three hour film. By doing three films (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey/The Desolation of Smaug/There and Back Again) Jackson is, hopefully, going to be able to capture the magic of the original novel.
That being said - I am going to try to keep my opinions of the book separate from my opinions of the film adaptation.
Normally I overreact in an action sequence for films like The Hobbit but I was so engulfed in witnessing how "The Company" gets out of its sticky situations that I stopped fidgeting in my seat to see just how they would survive. Bilbo's departure from Hobbiton and The Shire set forth just how action packed it was, as he ran after "The Company" to begin his adventure. The amount of time it took for Jackson to bring us to that point let me know I needed to hunker down - the boots came off, the popcorn sat complacently in my lap and I sipped my pop slowly as I did not want to get up.
Sure the movie is just under 3 hours long but definitely well worth the bathroom break. My movie guest was slamming his head on the chair in hopes the film would end, but admitted he didn't want to miss a moment. The film captures all the imperative plot moments that showcase the skills of the Dwarves as well as Bilbo's burglary abilities - especially when he is able to finagle his way out of the trolls and goblins.
In terms of its comparison to the novel - it hit all the key plots points, but every adaptation is an artist's interpretation. But because of LOTR's established visuals, Jackson was again able to capture the images created by Tolkien. I don't know about you, but I imagined Middle Earth to look similar to how Jackson portrays it. I always like when the film closely matches what others interpret the novel as.
Filmmaking for me is always aiming for the imaginary movie and never achieving it.
- Peter Jackson
What do you think?
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