HFR 3D(48fps) didn't seem any better than any other 3D I've seen, though I am somewhat skeptical of the theater quality in NH(It's an IMAX theater but all they have is the sunglass type "goggles"). Everything looked to dark(hard to see). It had the usual issue with moving items on the "edge's" of your vision, that they blur things on purpose because you are supposed to look at the center of the screen. But I always track to movement anyway so then I'm seeing a blob of indistinguishable dwarf roll by, really hurts the immersion for me.
Now onto the content. It wasn't terrible, no movie lives up to the book it's based on... which is what is going to bother me about it being 9hours~ long, I can/have read the book in less time than that. I am guessing that when all is said and done with it I will still prefer the Rankin/Bass anime(german sounding elves and all) because it was pretty true to the story ->
Spoiler (highlight to view):
Differences being that it did not mention Beorn and the ending was simplified in regards to the Arkenstone(and I think they killed off a different number of dwarfs at the end).
I liked the minimalist approach to the anime VS the added stuff in this new version.
For those who have seen the movie already.
It sounded good on paper to add in things like the Thror(AZOG)/Thrain(Necromancer) angles that kinda tie into the story but...
Spoiler (highlight to view):
AZOG~Storyinthebooks~ After the Dwarves are driven from the Lonely Mountain Thror and his scribe go to Moria to investigate, Thror leaves his scribe outside and goes to check things out. Some days later his head is thrown back out(with AZOG stamped on his forhead) along with a bag of gold and AZOG taunts the scribe. Scribe goes and gets the dwarves loyal to the "King under the mountain" and they make was on gobys eventually having a battle outside Moria, AZOG dies, Thorin gains his namesake "Oaken Shield", revenge is had and the dwarves disperse again. It really has very little bearing on the Hobbit story.
In the movie~ AZOG is now a STILL LIVING villain and I assume he is going to chasing them through the next two movies to try and get HIS revenge... :[
Thrain/Necromancer~Storyinthebooks~ Some time after AZOG's death and such Thrain is driven to a lust for gold by his "ring of power"(the last of the seven bestowed upon the dwarves). So he goes off by himself in search of it and when passing through Mirkwood is captured by the Necromancer who takes his ring and imprisons him in Dol Guldur. ~Gandalf goes to Dol Guldur to find out the identity of the Necromancer and finds Thrain in the dungeon there. Thrain gives him the map and key and tells him to give them to his son, but Thrain can't remember his sons name. Thrain dies. Gandalf later finds Thorin and sets him up on his journey in the Hobbit. The fourteen plus Gandalf get dropped near the edge of Mirkwood by the eagles. Gandalf takes his leave of them, goes with others of the White Councel and expunges the Necromancer from Dol Guldur. The end(of the Necromancer)
In the movie~ Eh, I am less concerned with how the movie handled this because it is not THAT much different and I assume it is all done for content pacing reasons(through out the trillogy).
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Other issues~
Jokes in bad taste, I'm not a fan of belching contests or dudes being used as handkerchiefs. It's just not my kind of humor so for me it detracted from the film.
Songs, I was kinda hoping for more of the songs(poems really) but I guess I can be happy with the one I did get to hear as it was done well.
The added conflict with elves, I don't see what it adds(well I do, it adds drama that wasn't there). It fuckerized the whole Rivendell scene.
Some oddly paced/changed scenes for no apparent reason(other than to make Bilbo look "better"), such as ->
Mountain Trolls. In the book they send Bilbo in to steal something to show his worth as a burglar, he gets caught showing his ineptitude and the trolls figure where there is one there might be more and they proceed to catch all the dwarves who are hiding from GIANT FUCKING TROLLS. Gandalf then tricks them into arguing over how to cook them and thus buys time until daylight(or brings it on early or something I can't remember > <). In the MOVIE... A couple of asshole dwarves send him in to rescue ponys they lost and Bilbo gets caught. The dwarves rush in big dicks a swayin to save the day and they surrender only when the "kinda big" dumb trolls are going to kill Bilbo if they don't... Yea... That makes a lot of sense... Lets all surrender and get eaten or that one guy we don't like/want anyways is going to die... Kinda like he will if you all surrender... But no worries Bilbo will save the day by tricking those Trolls and buying time until daylight!(heroizasion number 1).
The dwarves being captured by the Goblin King. First off they added more dumb drama in the cave before hand with Bilbo attempting to sneak away. Not cool. Then they change the pace in the caves for no good reason. Rather than him being captured with the dwarves as it happened in the book and then being lost during there escape they have him not get captured(heroizasion number 2). They also changed the beheading of the golblin king, rather than Gandalf showing up, blinding the gobys, freeing the dwarves, chopping up the goblin king and then making there escape... They turned it into a themepark ride.
They also super tweaked the ending scene. In the book they are chased by wargs/golblins and take refuge in some huge pine trees and the goblins decide to burn them out(and sing an awesome song). Gandalf turns pinecones into fucking grenades or some shit to keep the gobys at bay and then they get rescued by the Eagles... In the movie they get chased up the trees because they are on the edge of a cliff(like they would have outrun them on foot in the open ?). Wargs start climbing the trees... and Gandalf in his infinite wisdom LIGHT HIS OWN FUCKING TREES ON FIRE... And then as if that wasn't bad enough Thorin jumps out of the tree dick swinging between his ankles to fight a ton of dudes by himself.. but nah he's not that awesome after all, he trips on it and super hobbit saves the day(heroizasion number 3)... This scene really annoyed me.
Then Bilbo has a heart felt moment with Thorin, who now realizes how awesome he is... Which isn't supposed to happen until the end of the damn story...
Even with all the above said.. I liked the movie well enough, just not game changing for me. I'll probably end up seeing it again in 2D with my folks though.
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