Thoughts on The Hobbit

I've seen the movie twice now, once on Thursday at midnight with Rachel and her friend Tim and yesterday afternoon with Carol, Rachel and Ben.  Remarkably, I had a very similar reaction to the one I had with The Fellowship of the Ring. After the first time, I wasn't sure how I liked it. After the second time, I was sure that I loved it.

So, here are some random thoughts (spoilers ahead):

- Loved all the dwarves. Really liked their distinct looks and personalities. I liked the fact that they were mostly very different from Gimli and were acknowledged to be tinkers, miners, toymakers, etc. I especially liked Balin, Fili and Kili, and, surprisingly, Bofur, who had a whole bunch of dialogue and some fun business. I loved that Dori was a fastidious gourmand. The whole dinner at Bag End sequence was excellent.

 - I liked that the color palette of the movie was much brighter and varied than the Lord of the Rings films, symbolizing a world richer in wonder and magic. This fit in perfectly with the idea that by the time of the Lord of the Rings, magic is dying out in Middle Earth.

 - Elrond was much more happy and likable. Hooray! I was really hoping he would be more care-free and he was. I was happy to see Gandalf the Grey again and glad that he was using a lot more magic than he did in LOTR.

 - I am not terribly enamored with the "Azog chases the company" storyline. It was added to give the movie a sense of threat and tension, but Azog himself is too CGI and the subplot doesn't really add anything for me. I also found amusing the scene where a dozen wargs with orc riders are chasing thirteen dwarves AND Gandalf AND Radagast. The dwarves and the two ISTARI should have just turned and wailed on them.

 -  I generally liked Radagast, although I could have done without the bird excrement on his face.

 - As I feared, the Goblin Town action sequence was overdone with too much CGI and craziness. And the dwarves (and Bilbo) falling hundreds of feet and surviving was ridiculous and unnecessary.

 - Speaking of unnecessary, while the Stone Giants fight was interesting and unusual, it didn't make a lot of sense. With those guys around, the face of the mountaintops would be constantly changing, pretty much eliminating the ability for the goblins to have a "front porch".

 - Really loved the scene between Bofur and Bilbo just before they get captured by the goblins.

 - Both times I saw the movie in the 24fps format as I didn't think Carol would take to the 48fps version well.  After we saw the movie yesterday, we ducked into the 48fps theatre to check it out for a few minutes. The difference was striking, of course, and we didn't have the 3-D glasses so we didn't get the whole effect. But wow, was it different. Carol really liked it, so maybe we should have gone for that format after all.

 - My absolute favorite part of seeing it the second time was the look on Ben's face when the movie ended and he realized that he'd have to wait for sequels to see the whole story. He thought it was just one movie. His surprise and exclamation of dismay were awesome.