Plotwise, however, I felt the run time of almost three hours could have, should have, been cut to about one-and-three-quarters. No, I'm not a Tolkien purist. I don't care about the extra material from other notes, I don't care about diversions from the way the book's written. I do care about being entertained, though, and lengthy battle scenes can only hold my interest for, oh, about thirty seconds.
World-creating-wise, I loved the Shire. Although nothing really happened there, and it took a long time for the nothing really to happen, I could have watched it over and over again. In fact, I could have happily watched three hours of The Hobbit - An Alternative To The Journey, in which Bilbo stays and home and bakes cookies.
Still, it's a must-see. To quote another reviewer: "You'll leave with a smile, even if you spent a good portion of the past three hours yawning."
And, speaking as a visitor to the lovely Welligton, correction, The Middle Of Middle Earth, I loved how the city dressed up to celebrate the premiere.
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| Conveyer belt at Wellington's airport |
2 comments:
I agree with your comments about the battle scenes. Oh look, yet ANOTHER scene of running across rickety plank bridges (that would have Health & Safety in a dead faint). Mr Jackson's love affair with special effects has yet to run its course. But wasn't Martin Freeman superb? I think he put more into Bilbo's character than Tolkien himself did. A very enjoyable movie.
Totally!
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