<deep breath> OK, saw The Hobbit (part 1) today… and, while I can honestly say I was never bored, the movie went on way too long. It gives me a new understanding to people who had little patience for the various Lords of the Rings movies. Basically, the movie is 2 hrs. 50 min. or so of a book that’s 300 pages long so it gets a lot of padding and scenes drawn out… some from the appendices of Return of the King and others just for the hell of it (a one sentence reference in the book – practically an aside – about two mountains fighting each other turns into a few minutes of over-the-top heroic action).I suspect a lot of the extra stuff will pay off in parts 2 and 3 though.

Another quirk of the movie is that it’s based on The Hobbit, a book written for kids and is a prequel to Lord of the Rings, a trilogy written for adults. So all the kid-oriented stuff like the Cockney trolls trying to decide how to cook dwarves, the riddle contest, and the ho-ho dinner party gets mixed in with themes and elements (and overall look) of a movie trying to bridge story elements with Lord of the Rings. A lot of the movie doesn’t feel like it’s in the same universe as Lord of the Rings… and a yet the other half of the movie does.

Still, it’s a good movie and worth seeing if you have the time and if your butt doesn’t get too sore from sitting there too long (<raises hand> ouch!).

Stay away from the 48fps version – it’s distracting and perplexing.

Score: 82