The Hobbit

From the moment I saw the first trailer for The Hobbit, I could not wait to see it.  I spent the whole year looking forward to seeing this movie, and at last, a year later, I have gone to see it in theaters.

I saw it twice; the first time with my mom and my brother in 2D and 24 frames per second, the second time with my mom, my brother, and my dad in 3D and 48 frames per second.  The second time we went, we went to a different movie theatre that showed The Hobbit at the faster frame rate.  It was raining incredibly hard when we left the movie theatre.  My dad was even afraid our car would get stuck in all of the water that covered the roads.  It was literally a full-on flood.  I looked outside the car window and it seemed like a lake out there.  People were trudging through the water on the sidewalks with their pants rolled up!

Anyways, back to The Hobbit.  

Truthfully, I could not tell much difference between the 24 frames per second and the 48 frames per second.  I still wonder if we really saw The Hobbit in the faster frame rate or not, because it didn't seem very different.  It said on our ticket that it was in the faster frame rate, but I still wonder.  Moving on to the subject of 2D vs 3D:  I have decided once and for all that there is not really any point in seeing movies in 3D.  I would prefer to see a movie traditionally, in the 2D 24 frames per second format.

Anyhow, enough of all the formats.  What about the actual movie?  I loved this movie from beginning to end.  It has become one of my favorite movies.  Something that I do not agree with that I've heard from other people, is that the beginning takes too long and that the film spends too much time in the Shire.  I thoroughly disagree with this.  Let the film breath, let it develop its atmosphere and personality.  Let the audience become introduced to the characters, give the film some silent moments to dwell upon.  I really liked how much The Hobbit took time to breath in this way.  The scenes with the dwarfs at Bilbo's house are some of the best in the entire movie, so I appreciate Peter Jackson's decision to stay in the Shire as long as he did.  I also appreciate his decision to include Radagast the Brown in The Hobbit.  I thought Sylvester McCoy was great as Radagast.  

The scenery was absolutely breathtaking.  The acting was very very impressive as well.  Martin Freeman as Bilbo and Andy Serkis as Gollum for instance, were wonderful.  I really felt as if Martin Freeman was Bilbo - he became Bilbo Baggins.  The riddles in the dark scene was one of my favorite moments in this film.  I think it was everyone's favorite.  It was brilliant.  Another favorite scene of mine was of course, the Misty Mountains song.  I love the soundtrack for this film.  

Two other personal favorite scenes of mine were "That's What Bilbo Baggins Hates", and the scene near the end, when Thorin is taken up by one of the eagles and they are carried by the eagles with the beautiful scenery in the background.  Richard Armitage was magnificent as Thorin Oakenshield.  He truly is an amazing actor.

Here is one of the scenes I mentioned above, "That's What Bilbo Baggins Hates".  I can never tire of the bright upbeat music in this scene.

In conclusion, I loved The Hobbit.  I look forward to when I can watch it again for the third time, then even more times in the time to come!