Good for a One time Watch!

Rating: Null/10 (15 January 2013)

I finally saw the movie yesterday in 3D. I do not know if it was the constant service calls for soda refills in the theatre or the itchiness of the 3D glasses, I didn't enjoy the movie as much as I thought. It was an unexpected journey to the theatre for me. That said, the movie had some breathtaking imagery, and camera plunging to the abyss scenes reminiscent of the LOTR.
Someone told me prior the the movie's start, that the actual book is lesser in pages and simpler than the LOTR. But truly I could have figured that on my own, even if he hadn't said so. Because;
1.Writing: The writing feels stretched. The mission for the covenant is made clear from the very start in the movie, yet the mission fades away because there is a lot of side details ( in many cases justifying and elaborating the LOTR). It feels like the writer is trying hard to derive from the LOTR memoir, the strength to embolden the script, but instead he looses the focus. Eg. What was the point of Radgast? The Trolls, the Spiders and the Hare sledge race, Sauramon appearing dismissive etc. Just seems like they were stretching the whole plot, and trying to fill in the time to make it a three part movie.
2. Poor Character development: One could relate to the emotional Canvass of LOTR (the fear, trials, friendship and deceit of the characters). Here one just fails to empathize with the characters as almost nothing is known about their inspirations and motives lest alone their names. The older Bilbo Baggins seems cynical and prude ( without much stuttering in his words, eyes and hands). The younger Bilbo Baggins, seems funny, restless and a different guy altogether. I still wonder what made him leave the shire anyway. What gave him the strength to face the orcs and the trolls, when he hadn't ever stepped out of his shire before in his life. Some of the Dwarfs who were fighter, seemed more scared than he was.
3.Dragon: Having overcome the different arduous things, summoning up courage and risking life on their way just to face off a dragon to get the gold and mountain, Well, (meh!) doesn't appeal to me. Or perhaps, the grand scheme of what is at stake (or coming like in LOTR) is not laid out well in the movie. The last I heard was that Shrek tamed a dragon. I don't know what and why are the 14 Middle earth heroes doing the same. For gold and mountain? Nah! that is not solid.
LOTR soundtrack, cinematography, New Zealand, costume, Rivendell little bit of Frodo and the mines - These were the real treat.