meh (a reaction I shouldn't have walking out of this film)

Rating: 3/10 (30 December 2012)

Really, really disappointing. Firstly, I love Tolkien, fantasy and Peter Jackson's work. Unfortunately, I found the Hobbit really disappointing. It's not all bad, but I feel that given the money spent and the people involved, The Hobbit should have been much, much better. Before I go any further, let me add to the praise of the riddles scene. Brilliant and well played. It also looks very pretty. But, the storytelling was sloppy to say the least and lead to a bloated 160+ min where I thought the film was never, ever going to end. The writers decided to chop out parts of the novel and add pointless scenes that 'link' the Hobbit to Lord of the Rings, but really, what's the point? The added scenes were talky, painfully long and stuck out like a sore thumb. All of them detracting from Martin Freeman as the Hobbit, which let's face it, he's the centre of the story and it's his journey we're interested in. The CG stuff was liberally scattered through the movie and seemed like it was there to show a: how clever CG has got and b: how thrilling 3D is. (which it isn't) At a certain point, it just gets annoying and feels like you're watching a poorly made animated movie. The action seems never ending. Each scene seemed to go on and on and on. The film couldn't make up its mind whether it was a kid's movie or an epic and swung back and forth, which only added to the annoyance. This film will go on to make squillions and I'm sure the filmmakers will use that to justify their creative choices, but for my money, The Hobbit is an opportunity wasted. Film making at its bloated, lazy worst.