I personally thought it was just alright. I watched Movie Bob's review before I saw it so I lowered my expectations from the LOTR trilogy. Still, I am kind of disappointed with it.
It seemed like Jackson wasn't sure if he wanted to make it more lighthearted like in the book or if he wanted to continue with the more serious tone from his LOTR movies. It has scenes that are obviously aimed at younger audiences (the dwarves escaping the goblins by riding a bunch of wooden planks down a chasm) and then more serious scenes aimed at older audiences (Thorin vs Azog).
Some of the CG is just plain bad (the eagles and a lot of the goblins look almost plastic).
Some of the music felt really out of place. I think they should have just made an entirely new soundtrack (apart from the Hobbits theme) instead of reusing stuff from the LOTR. The scene where Thorin charges through the fire towards Azog is cool and all but I was really annoyed that they used the Nazgul's theme music during that.
I also didn't like how they made Gandalf seem like a simple man compared to Galadriel. Yes she is wise and powerful but she is still just an elf. Gandalf is a god in the body of a man. He is much more wise and powerful. The only person at the council who really was above him was Saruman.
Also, the whole beginning part with Frodo just seemed really forced. It's cool that they are trying to make it feel more like a prequel than the book was originally intended but most of the entire movie just being Bilbo remembering his adventure before his party is odd.
Those are my main complaints but there were things I liked. I liked how we got to see what was going on in Dol Guldur (I'm amazed that out of the group of 15 people I saw the movie with, I was the only one who immediately recognized the Nazgul for what it was). I thought Bilbo's actor did a fantastic job. The fights were good once you got past the CG. Gollum is a creepily awesome as ever. I actually liked that they are making a much bigger deal out of Azog than the books.
Overall, I thought the movie was alright but I'm still excited to see the rest of the trilogy.
What did the rest of the Escapist think of this movie?
It seemed like Jackson wasn't sure if he wanted to make it more lighthearted like in the book or if he wanted to continue with the more serious tone from his LOTR movies. It has scenes that are obviously aimed at younger audiences (the dwarves escaping the goblins by riding a bunch of wooden planks down a chasm) and then more serious scenes aimed at older audiences (Thorin vs Azog).
Some of the CG is just plain bad (the eagles and a lot of the goblins look almost plastic).
Some of the music felt really out of place. I think they should have just made an entirely new soundtrack (apart from the Hobbits theme) instead of reusing stuff from the LOTR. The scene where Thorin charges through the fire towards Azog is cool and all but I was really annoyed that they used the Nazgul's theme music during that.
I also didn't like how they made Gandalf seem like a simple man compared to Galadriel. Yes she is wise and powerful but she is still just an elf. Gandalf is a god in the body of a man. He is much more wise and powerful. The only person at the council who really was above him was Saruman.
Also, the whole beginning part with Frodo just seemed really forced. It's cool that they are trying to make it feel more like a prequel than the book was originally intended but most of the entire movie just being Bilbo remembering his adventure before his party is odd.
Those are my main complaints but there were things I liked. I liked how we got to see what was going on in Dol Guldur (I'm amazed that out of the group of 15 people I saw the movie with, I was the only one who immediately recognized the Nazgul for what it was). I thought Bilbo's actor did a fantastic job. The fights were good once you got past the CG. Gollum is a creepily awesome as ever. I actually liked that they are making a much bigger deal out of Azog than the books.
Overall, I thought the movie was alright but I'm still excited to see the rest of the trilogy.
What did the rest of the Escapist think of this movie?
