You Win, Peter Jackson

I didn't think The Hobbit could be stretched into 3 separate movies without being boring. I was wrong. I saw it last night and it wasn't boring. Peter Jackson wins again.

I anticipated it all being so tedious: meeting the dwarves, getting out of the Shire, the singing. But it wasn't. I love the dwarves. I even liked the singing.

To watch it feels like reading the book. Everything is described in great detail. I wouldn't have wanted them to cut anything. About halfway into the movie I just submitted entirely to Peter Jackson's will. 2 more movies? 3 more movies? Whatever. I would watch all of them, happily. It's great fun. I can't wait to take the kids.

One thing I loved about it, especially, is getting to see Gandalf as action hero. In The Hobbit we get to see more of pre-white Gandalf within the context of the other wizards and guardians. Gandalf is of the people, you know? He's got his ear to the ground and knows the locals, unlike that hoity toity Saruman who thinks he knows better—And we all know what happens to him. (I just hope they already filmed all of Christopher Lee's scenes because he doesn't seem long for this world, by which I mean actual earth.)Yes, Gandalf has some magic at his disposal but he is also pretty good at simply stabbing orcs. Go Gandalf. You are awesome and I hope you never die permanently. Do I love you more than Dumbledore? Maybe? All I know is this: I'd like to discuss it with like-minded people for about 5 hours.

I also loved Martin Freeman as Bilbo. He is SO much better than Elijah Wood was as Frodo. I loved all the Lord of the Rings movies but Frodo has always bugged me. I don't like how Elijah Wood says things or looks. Is he a good actor? Maybe his face is just too smooth and his eyes are creepy?

Merry, Pippin, Samwise—they were all better than Frodo. We let it go because Frodo was the ring bearer so we thought maybe that was why he was a drag and looked like a toddler and didn't fit in and rolled his eyes into the back of his head grossly so much.

Seeing Martin Freeman as Bilbo makes me regret Elijah Wood as Frodo. But that's in the past. I can let it go. Of course, in The Hobbit it's the future. I can't help but wish for a better one.

I'll be posting more about The Hobbit on Babble later today but for now you just need to know that you should see it. It's good. It's not boring. It's clever. Gandalf is charming. You'll love Bilbo. The dwarves (and, this is surprising) don't get old. You're actually going to care about the dwarves. The backstory is interesting. The action is exciting. Gollum is better than ever. The LOTR foreshadowing makes for a lot of prequel-ly goodness. 

At least, I thought so. Instead of taxing my interest in Middle Earth yore, it made me want to learn more.  In fact, while perusing my Tolkien Bestiary late last night I actually got really stoked about reading the Silmarillion.

Yeah, I say stuff like that. So maybe this review is not objective. Just so you know, the movie is not exactly like the book (awesome comparison, here). But then, Bret from Flight of the Conchords isn't in the book either. Change can be good.