Oh yes, finally it only took 9 years following the extreme success of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy for the next installment in the middle earth saga. It has been an interesting trip from Return of the King to An Unexpected Journey, from rumors to fan request, but the best are the people who are unfamiliar with the book. So I will begin with a little history of Middle Earth or the Lord of the Rings.
Ok listen up Harry Potter fans, actually any fans of any kind of fantasy at all. The Hobbit is NOT ripping these other movies off at all. First, The Hobbit was published in 1937 and writen by J.R.R. Tolkien. Yep, thats right, so before anyone decides to rip on something being adapted to film, check the facts, I believe Harry Potter came 61 years later. Gandalf is not a cheap rip off of Dumbledore, lets do this, they are two completely different stories with the same idea, the “heroes journey”. To go further, Tolkien created an entire world along with many different races and languages.
Now, I hope that puts that to rest for a little bit, I will talk about the movie a little and follow with my hopes for the next two films. A little backround, a hobbit, Bilbo Baggins gets pulled into an adventure to help a band of dwarves attempt to reclaim their home and treasure from Smaug the Dragon. This film covers about half of the book, that makes it interesting considering there are two more films.
So, what did I think, well I was never the biggest fan of the book, I really always enjoyed reading the Lord of the Rings over the Hobbit. The story itself is very entertaining, but I was never a fan of Bilbo or the Dwarves. I do believe CGI was a little overwelming, considering the previous
few movies they did a lot of prop, make up and set design. The movie was really great, I enjoyed every second of the film, but it has been described as “epic”, but I did not really find it to be epic. It is what the books are to the Lord of the Rings books. I do know and believe when the other films are released they could mirror the Lord of the Rings. Think about the Fellowship of the Ring, it for sure feels smaller than the final two films. An Unexpected Journey was a great start to a, what I believe a great series. The movie is great and worth the price of admission, but I will not call it the best film of the year, I will leave that for the Avengers.
I loved the fact that every character who came back for this film was casted buy the original actors. When it was announced that Guillermo del Toro was going to direct the films I worried about a dark and scary Middle Earth and I was so happy Peter Jackson came back to direct the films. Everything looked and sounded like the Middle Earth from the Lord of the Rings. Back to the cast, Martin Freeman as Bilbo was seamless and Richard Armitage was a great Thorin Oakenshield.
Future Movies
Next year the Desolation of Smaug comes out and I am not sure where the movie will end, but we should see Mirkwood and the Elves, including Legolas, but I want to see somethings that are not in the book. Gandalf takes off and it is somewhat explained in the book but mostly explained
in the apendacies in the back of the Return of the King book and the Unfinished Tales.. So what am I talking about? Well Gandalf going to Dol Guldur to drive the Necromancer away, which he does but only to Mordor, yes SPOILER…the Necromancer…is Sauron…
With that said, I think the second movie will end when Bilbo enters Erebor and meets Smaug. But based on this picture it will go against what I just said. So in the third film we would see the death of Smaug and the Battle of the Five Armies, it will be awesome and then Bilbo gets to go home.
So yeah thats what I hope for, the third movie will be released in July of 2014. So if you have not seen this film, do it, it is very good and for me there are times to tear up. Plus you get to see “Riddles in the Dark”, again if you have not read the book, it is where Bilbo gets the…from…Smeagol. I am looking forward to the next two films and the honestly the film outlook in 2013.
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