In 1937, a simple novel came out that changed the world of fantasy literature forever. In 2012, a film series came out that kind of changed the world of fantasy film forever. So when I thought I could put these 2 things into the boxing ring, I didn’t know how hard this was going to be. This week, I am talking about The Hobbit or There and Back Again VS The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Desolation of Smaug, and The Battle of Five Armies. Now if you remember before I stopped doing reviews, I actually reviewed the book, and thought it was great, and I still do. And recently I bought and watched all 3 Hobbit movies, which took me 3 days to manage to watch. I still can’t believe someone would make 3 movies, a total of about 9 hours of film, based on a book that would probably take less than 9 hours to read. So wish me luck and please bear with me.
Now, let’s start off with the character portrayals, I LOVE MARTIN FREEMAN!!!! I think he made an excellent Bilbo Baggins, especially since he looked like a young Sir Ian Holm, who played the older Bilbo in the LOTR movies, and also in the beginning and end of the Hobbit series. Sir Ian McKellen, came back as Gandalf the Grey, pre Gandalf the White, and of course he was wonderful as well. Richard Armitage was amazing as Thorin, and really handle the good and ugly side of Thorin, from a kingly leader to a power hungry man who wanted his gold. I also liked the guys that played, Balin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Dwalin, Fili, Gloin, Kili, Nori, Oin, and Ori. Radagast the Brown, who was played by the 7th Doctor himself, Sylvester McCoy, did a great job … even though he wasn’t in the book! I will say, it was weird seeing Saruman being a bad guy, since we all clearly know that he goes over to Team Bad Guys. Everyone else was very good, even Bill Connolly’s CGI cameo. Everyone’s portrayal was pretty spot on, even Bennedict Cumberbatch as Smaug. I probably wouldn’t change a thing.
The look of the film is spot on as well. It looks just like I came back to the same Middle Earth from the LOTR movies. The books are really hard to envision how grand and beautiful Middle Earth is, but when I see the movies, Peter Jackson really used New Zealand’s amazing sceneries and made you believe that this place was real, and really grand. Guilliermo del Toro did a great job designing the look and feel of the movie, although he only did the 1st 2 films, and then there was some disagreement with Jackson, and he was only credited with co-writing the 3rd one, which you can totally tell in the 3rd film that he wasn’t apart of the look design. But besides of that, it looks great.
Now … the story! About 1/4th of the story is accurate from the book. The rest was made up. There was no Radagast bunny chase with the creepy wolf things, no fight with the 9 mortal men vs the good guys and Saruman. And, there was NO LEGOLAS! I know he was a popular character in the LOTR movies, but trust me when I say this, he wasn’t in the book. I’m sorry to break your hearts ladies. Speaking of hearts, there was no love story between Tauriel and the brother dwarf, I forgot his name, I just know it was either Kili or Fili. Although, there was one moment in the end of the 3rd one when I did get emotional over the love story, I won’t spoil it for those that haven’t seen it, but it’s pretty sad.
Before I end this I have one thing I have to say. In the end of the Battle of the Five Armies, the Elf King jerk tells Legolas to go north to meet a young ranger named Strider, obviously Aragorn who is in the LOTR movies. But here’s one thing about this that doesn’t make sense, well to me at least. The events of the Battle of the Five Armies happened over 60 years before the Fellowship of the Ring was formed, in the movies. In the books, it’s WAY longer than that. If we’re talking movie wise, that would mean that Aragorn should be an old man in his mid to late 80’s in the LOTR movies. Not a young hot guy in most likely his late 30’s. It doesn’t make sense to me at all. Apparently I wasn’t the only one that noticed this either, a coworker of mine also noticed it. Another coworker of mine also noticed it and tried to explain it to us how it’s possible that he’s still young and gorgeous, but I forgot because we tend to change conversation topics very easily. So if you know why, good for you, it still doesn’t make sense to me.
My personal thoughts, I think the book sticks to the main story plot very well, but the movie has more to show off it’s grandness, and also show the sides of emotion that a book can’t show. Like right after Thorin dies in Bilbo’s arms and the dwarves are having there moment, Bilbo is just sitting there when out of nowhere Gandalf pulls out his pipe and is trying to get his smoke on, and it’s just a couple of minutes of awkwardness of how they are both reacting to what had just occurred. Not only did they just go through a freaking brutal battle, but one of their good friends just died. Yes, he was a jerk towards the end, but he was still their friend, and they both are trying to find a way for them to mourn in their own way, in Gandalfs case, smoking, as if he’s had this happen before. But for Bilbo, it hasn’t, he’s spent a majority of his life living in a quiet hole on the side of a hill, and then out of nowhere he goes through a journey that not only shows him the joy and wonder of adventure, but the sacrifice and torment it can also bring. For some reason that one 2 minute scene really hit me, and I hope it made sense to you guys. It made sense to me at the time when writing this in the middle of the night. But stuff like that you can’t really grasp in a book.
So who wins, definitely the movies. Even though they added a ton of nonsense, it’s still full of epicness that will make you want to read the book, and not only that one, but the sequel books and movies as well. Peter Jackson really knows how to visually tell you a story, and it works here for sure. I’m pretty sad that he’s done with the Hobbit/LOTR books, but maybe he’ll go onto the other Middle Earth books that JRR Tolkien wrote. Maybe he will, maybe he won’t. Although, just because I’m going with the movies, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read the book, it’s a great book. So go to a store and buy both, I know you won’t regret it.
So that is the end of a very long Book VS Movie, just like the movies! Next week I will be taking on another Book VS Movie, The Hobbit VS The Animated Hobbit. If there is a particular book you’d like to see me take on, please comment down below or tweet me @BorenNerdy. Make sure if you like it to share with everyone you know. And for goodness sakes, read a book why don’t you! I will see you next week my preciouses!
- BorenNerdy
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