Hugely Disappointing

Rating: 5/10 (10 August 2013)

First off I'd like to say I'm a big fan of The Lord of the Rings films, everything about them I think is just so well done, the details are simply amazing. Whereas the hobbit I feel it just constantly disappoints. They are a couple of scenes that help redeem its status but if it wasn't a Tolkien/Jackson job I'd give it around a 4. The effects are great yadayada, but I genuinely couldn't care about the special effects, there extras to a film nothing more. Like many other reviewers have said the introduction drags massively, so first impressions aren't the greatest either. Frodo also kind of annoyed me, I mean could he have sounded any different, did he even need to be in the film? I also felt the way they portrayed the dwarfs was ridiculously bad. I thought dwarfs were supposed to be tough looking with big shaggy beards and large shoulders. It would've looked better if they just used the dwarfs from Time Bandits. Half of them just look normal, if it wasn't for the odd long shot and camera trick you wouldn't be able to tell that there supposed to be like 4 foot. Another thing that really grinded my gears was the rock giants; what a boring, poorly executed, dragged out piece of terribleness. This scene could've been much better if they just kept it short and had the fight take place in the distance. We don't need to see them, leave something to the imagination Mr. CGI. Finally the goblins, like.. where do they get off? I honestly don't understand why they fully revamped them. In LOTR they looked well nasty and mischievous. You'd see one and know they'd eat you and enjoy it, but in the hobbit, they come across completely harmless. You know without reading the book that our heroes will be safe as houses smoking pipe weed and playing scrabble with these throwbacks. And I can't even describe the rest of this scene, metal bones and Kevlar skin comes to mind. I know nothing I've wrote so far is positive, so I'll quickly throw in some of the good stuff. The music as expected is still great and really helps carry the film. The props and special effects are top notch. The cast is okay, although familiar faces do outshine the rest. And Gollum in my eyes saves this film from being a narnia, they really capture his scenes straight from the book. All in all I'd give this film a 5/6, definite disappointment. Lets hope the next ones more entertaining!