Too serious and dark approached in screening of novel which just isn't nor serious nor dark

Rating: 7/10 (10 January 2013)

The perfect visual impression, excellent music and great scenery are fully anticipated positives of the last Jackson's movie adaptation of Tolkien's works, but that is, more or less, where the positives stop. After a slow and uninteresting, but visually and emotionally nice beginning, in which we see how and why did dwarfs went on their journey and how Bilbo ends up with them, story evolves in even more slower and not too interesting bunch of relatively unconnected adventures. Book intended to be children story and this movie as children movie would be great, but Jackosn's too serious and too dark approach, like one in Lord of the Rings which are more darker stories, made most of the movie torn between something like half comedy children story and dark and strong wannabe Lord of the Rings story. Indestructibility of group of dwarfs is also terribly unserious even despite it is a fantasy film. Forest wizard with sleighs which are driven by big rabbits and big thick goblins who perform strongly and fall from one touch while telling a joke, just aren't characters for the movie Jackson wanted to made. There is also too often use of deus ex machina which is making the movie even less serious. Comedy sequences are great and very funny and they even fit in dark atmosphere, but basically they are just one more element which is making this story childish. A lot of attention was given to unimportant dialogues and scenes while many details are left vaguely, as eagles that help only partially, Saruman and Elvish opposition to return of dwarfs, Gandalf power in a one and weakness in other situations, and even the choice of Bilbo. While the CGI scenes were done almost perfectly, the one without it look amateurish. Camera often hides more than shows, and type of filming dialogues is like one in the soap operas. These were a huge disappointments. On the other hand, acting deserves applause, although not too big. Too serious and dark approached in screening of novel which just isn't nor serious nor dark is a fundamental mistake. Despite big backlog when compared with first trilogy, The Hobbit, if anything else, brings beautiful visualization and solid entertainment.