an unexpected disappointment...though there's still hope....

Rating: 5/10 (26 December 2012)

I was so desperate to see this movie! So, so excited and I was ready to argue with everyone who didn't like it, but...how awful I felt when I saw it! I mean, what happened? What went wrong?
To clear some things out, I am huge fan of Tolkien books and I saw LOTR trilogy 50 times at least. So you know how I felt when the Hobbit movie was announced. It was such a wonderful feeling. I had no complaints when they announced it will be the trilogy, thought the more time in Middle-Earth the better. Also, I knew there will be some additions from appendices of The Return of the King book and other Tolkien writings and I had nothing against it. I even thought it will be nice addition to a whole thing which will only levitate it to new heights. So you see, I was prepared for this movie in any way, well in any way but this....I hate to say it, but it felt like almost typical Hollywood blockbuster movie :(
Now, where to begin? I saw the movie in 24 fps 3D so I cannot judge of the new HFR technology, but I can tell you that this classic 3D wasn't special at all (especially after the insane 3D in the Oz the Great and Powerful trailer which aired before the movie). Few scenes apart it was hardly noticeable. And now onto actual movie review...
Many people complained about the first hour of the movie (apart from the wonderful prologue, yes it was wonderful, tough I kind of disagreed with those Mass Effect spaceship looking dwarf kingdom), the part at Bag End with all these dwarfs coming and eating every food in its path. But to me, this was the part which reminded me off the book the most. The acting was good, the setting, the pace, everything (even jokes) and I thought, if this is the worst part then I'm in for a threat!
How wrong I was...the true problem with this film is when the action actually comes in. It is absolute nonsense! It is like watching Pixar/Disney cartoon! Everything is overblown out of proportions. It looks like producers wanted to see all their money invested through CGI effects full blown out on screen minding not if there is no brain in it?! So you have scenes like that stone giants fight. Like it isn't enough that dwarfs and Bilbo are in the midst of that NON survivable fight, but they had to be on the legs of one of those titans (who could easily smash poor Sauron like a fly if they want to) which is even more ridiculous. It all looks stunning on screen but it is an insult for intelligence. I know this is in some way fairy tale and they thought scenes like this would be suitable (especially for children), but if they thought like that, why did they put in scenes like the one when Gollum kills that goblin with rock which is absolutely disturbing for any child? It looks like Hollywood these days wants to make money grabbers for all the audiences no matter which age, but that is wrong approach! In the end you finish with the movie which has cartoonish scenes for children like those when Gandalf and dwarfs are sliding on the part of bridge down the rock over 100m with no harm (insanely stupid!), singing frog looking clown of a Goblin king (which is scary in the book btw Peter Jackson), all our good guys hanging on the tree which for some reason refuses to submit to the insurmountable law of gravity, crazy moron Radagast the brown on those stupid Santa Claus rabbit sledge which in the book is just weird (not mad)cause he prefers talking to animals more than humans etc on one hand and on the other it has serious scenes for grownups like white council (and other dialog heavy scenes), Dol Guldur apparition, Azog killing one orc and throwing him to the wargs to be eaten, many beheading all around, a bunch of scary looking goblins and orcs, Gollum (yes he's scary for children) etc. You see, that's the problem with this movie. The childish scenes are insult for grownups and those serious scenes are scary or boring for children and you end up with a movie which does not belong to any targeted group. Nor they like it nor they hate it. It is called mediocrity Peter Jackson and so is this movie unfortunately. It could have been so much more if they tuned a little more brain in the writing and designing process but alas, now is too late, the damage is done, though I do hope that next two movies will fix this mess somehow. After all there're so many good things with this movie, acting, the pacing, most of the story, the scenery, the music so they are good indicators that there's still hope for the next two. At least now Peter you know that you're wrong (just listen to the critics and fans of original trilogy with intelligence and see the box office that there's no profit in nonsense cause everything less than a billion is a fail for such grand production) and I'm sure you'll make other two movies good cause I know you can, you have proved it in the past (and please stop copy/paste of Lord of the Rings scenes, we know you made that trilogy, no need for reminding)!
I could have been harsh and give this movie a 5, but since this is an unfinished story I'll give it 7 in the name of hope for the next two installments.