The Hobbit: Early Screening

[Rían]

my son just txted me and he's seeing the midnight screening! (back east, a few hours ahead of my time). I told him to email me his report

[Sminty_Smeagol]

just got back from the midnight screening. first bad omen is that they had royally mucked up the elvish on the promo posters that were handed out (the title was supposedly in elvish alphabet). I saw it in Imax 3d and think maybe this wasnt the best way to view it... I liked the 3d experience but some of it looked too fake... a mountain crossing scene where the stone looks fake, gandalf's contacts, the cgi orcs... yeah all the orcs in the movie are cgi. The movie is too comical and too much whimsy for my taste... some parts had me silently groaning saying, "really?" (cant remember his name... raganast? the brown). even actors that remain from lotr come off as more warm and less serious, most noticeably elrond but also galadriel etc. even gollum's smeagol face is a little comical to me. I am left wondering where they were trying to take this film, who the target audience is. One cool thing though is they reuse some of the musical themes from lotr but I am almost positive they modified them a little and they are brief. the overall musical theme for the movie seems to be from the song the dwarves sing about the journey before they leave bag end. Also we get to hear a bit of orc speech, with subtitles.

[shesabrandybuck]

wow, breathtaking - that's all I have to say.

[Nerdanel]

i went to the midnight screening, in 2d (i don't see the point of 3d). i did enjoy it, but it was a bit too much like the fellowship movie. it feels a bit silly that they made a fairly short book into a trilogy (feels like they might be doing it just for the money) and a children's book into another lotr - but hey, there were dragons and nice dwarf songs, so why not?

some scenes also felt a bit too much like a video game. that seems to be a trend nowadays - making movies with the thought of making it into a video game later. it doesn't work!

the music, as always, was wonderful.

people who think it's a silly film might be forgetting that it's based on a children's book? i thought it was a bit dark (although i don't actually mind) and i truly hope the second film won't follow the lotr trilogy and be a really dark movie. that wouldn't suit the hobbit, methinks.

but that's just me!

[Valandil]

Maybe we should get a different thread for posts by Mooters who have seen it. Someone that saw it could start the thread with their thoughts on it (but please - no spoilers just yet!).

[Christiana]

(Wow it's been a long time since I've been here!)

I saw the midnight screening Thursday night. I'll post my detailed opinions of specific scenes and characters once there's a thread for that, but right now here's my first impression (no spoilers other than for tone):
Lots of fun! I really want to see it a second time because it wasn't until partway through that, on a gut level, I realized I wasn't watching another LotR film (and it's not trying to be). I felt like Peter Jackson once again did a great job of sticking to the spirit of the book -- which in this case is a rollicking good tale of adventure and magic and epic quests, not a grim struggle against an imminent threat of worldwide darkness and evil. Although characters get in dire straits and are tested and tried and there are plenty of nailbiting moments, it has a fundamentally different tone than the LotR movies, as the book is different from the trilogy.