Perhaps not so new news, but welcome nonetheless. The Hobbit will be coming to the big-screen in December, 2012. The trailer shows the same attention to detail and exciting elements that characterized The Lord of the Rings movies, so it’s something I’m certainly looking forward to. I can still remember my friends Tim and Greg talking about Tolkien’s stories in class when we were in High School. At the time I was much taken with Science Fiction, and had read many great stories, but I had never ventured into the Fantasy realm. Their talk of goblins and wizards seemed exceedingly strange to me, so I never paid much attention. Then one weekend when shopping at our local department store, Tim took me to the book section and essentially wouldn’t let me leave until I had bought all four books: The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. I still have all of those paperbacks, dog-eared and faded, sitting on my shelf.
I remember it took me months to get through The Hobbit. I just couldn’t get past the apparent silliness of the Unexpected Party and singing dwarves, but eventually the deep magic of Middle Earth drew me in; I was hooked.
I remember many nights sitting up in bed till the early hours of the morning as I devoured The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, cheering at triumphs and despairing at defeats. Although there were many elements of The Lord of the Rings movies that I felt missed the mark, as I’m sure many people did, on the whole the movies were wonderful. The settings and casting were exceptional well-done, and it looks like The Hobbit will live up to that same expectation.
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December is still a long way off, but I’m already looking forward to plunging back into the world of Bilbo and Middle Earth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZEOM13UyZ0A
David
When I was 7, my Aunt Bobby took me to see Ralph Bakshi’s animated Lord of the Rings at the Zigfield Theater in Manhattan. I will always remember sitting in that cavernous theater, surveillance the incredible report of Middle-Earth unfold, and just commonly being amazed by the lushly colored vigor on the gigantic screen. So, bear in mind as you read this that I will always have a soft spot in my heart for this much-maligned film.
That was over 20 years ago, and I reckon I’ve seen this movie once since then, so when it was released on DVD I keenly snapped it up. So how does it hold up to the childhood memories? Pretty excellent, really. The report is basically the same as in the book: The Hobbit Frodo is joined by eight companions in a quest to ruin the evil Ring of Sauron. The characters and locales look pretty much as one would imagine from reading the books. (This movie adapts The Fellowship of the Ring and half of The Two Towers.) I had a problem with Strider and Boromir trudging through feet of snow in nothing but their small dresses … bundle up, guys!
The scenery is by turns lush (the Shire), and forbidding (the brilliant Mines of Moria sequence). The problems were pretty much all the same: Bakshi’s use of Rotoscoping, or filming real actors and drawing over them. The rotoscoped parts just don’t fit with the rest of the movie, and it can be QUITE jarring to look at. (Check out how all of the Orcs seem to have just 2 kinds of faces … couldn’t they at least have made different masks to film the Orc actors in????) Also disconcerting (in a very minor way) was how Saruman was pronounced Aruman about half the time. People who aren’t familiar with the report will find that confusing; people who ARE will find it more and more irritating each time it happens and it happens A LOT.
The film also ends a small too abruptly; I remember being bothered by that as a kid. (It still bothers me!) On the plus side, the DVD looks fantastic; the colors are perfect, and the sound is fantastic. It’s too terrible there aren’t more extras. Overall, not as excellent as the new film adaptation, but worth a look for Tolkien fans.
Given the other animated works of Ralph Bakshi, he seems an honestly unlikely candidate as director of the first film version of The Lord of the Rings. Fire and Ice and Wizards, for example, are heavy-handed, crude, and sexually frustrated and that’s not even sad down on some of his OTHER work. And yet, very nearly surprisingly, his vision of Tolkien’s epic is possessed of the spirit of the books around which it is based.
The voice-overs are all spectacular, and the rotoscoped vigor gives the characters a life that vigor seldom possesses even if there are those who would argue that point, most assuredly. The vigor is also suitably dark and grim, even if this also translates into a visual problem, for even places that SHOULD look honest and gorgeous, such as Rivendell or Lothlorien, tend to be very nearly gloomy and ominous. When the Fellowship enters the dark halls of Moria, Bakshi is in top form. This adaptation attempts to make a single film out of The Fellowship of the Ring and over half of The Two Towers, which is obviously a mistake. Because of this, there are several changes to the report that we Tolkien zealots so adore, and sometimes beloved moments are lopped out entirely. This happens most in the beginning of the film when the hobbits are on the road and making toward Bree. There is no Tom Bombadil and no fog on the Barrow Downs here (nor will there be in the upcoming Peter Jackson film, alas!). And just when you expect to see the battle with Shelob, the movie ends most abruptly without completing the narrative; a pity.
Still, Bakshi does manage to give up an excellent (if not brilliant), well-animated, well-acted film version of fantasy’s most beloved classic. It is far superior to the Rankin-Bass productions of The Hobbit and The Return of the King, even at its worst. Fans of the series will probably either like it or despise it. I myself cannot wait for the DVD.
This film was painstaking cutting edge for its time. Ralph Bakshi was a top class animated filmmaker, having directed such fantastic films like Fritz the Cat and Heavy Traffic. Surveillance this in the theater when I was a mere youngin I really liked it. I found it really fascinating. Now, of course, Peter Jackson’s versions are much better than this, but he had CGI and millions of dollars more than Bakshi did. It is blatantly unfair to trash Bakshi without acknowledging this film was made in 1978. It does end abruptly (it covers 1 1/2 books), primarily because they were hoping to do a sequel (needless to say, they by no means did). It has excellent atmosphere, fantastic vocal performances by a British cast, fantastic score, and the vigor is very excellent. The rotoscoping isn’t the greatest, but they still use this technique (Waking Life) today. Bakshi did what he may possibly with the technology he had, and I reckon he did a damn excellent job.
quantumfog
I also remember the Bakshi film, and had much the same impression as you. The major disappointment I experienced was that he was never able to finish the film. I haven’t seen it since it was released in theatres, so getting the DVD may be a good idea.
As far as the most recent LOTR films, although Jackson missed the mark when it came to capturing the magic of Tolkien, overall I thought the movies were fantastic. The sets were great, and the casting right on target.
I eagerly await the Hobbit.
Hasnain
Love it! As a long time fan of both the Hobbit and LOTR there are a few things I’ve seen that cause me a litlte concern but then I remember that I had similar feelings leading up to the LOTR trilogy and Peter delivered an amazing set of movies. I’m sure he’ll do the same with the Hobbit movies. The singing is a nice touch I wonder how much Jackson will include? Maybe we’ll get to hear Break the Dishes; Crack the Plates. Will also be interesting to see if he has the goblins sing as they sang several songs in the book.
silver price
Thus, it seems that the story of the Hobbit is part of Bilbo’s narration, or it may even be Frodo reading “There and back again”, who remembers his young days (as seen in the trailer), before delving into the history recounted in “The Hobbit”.
Jenifer
Yeah, I like these very well done. Return of the kings and hobbit I like best, too. But two toewrs is not bad..I like how he captured the eye but what is the meaning of the stars in return of the king poster?? I under about the tree. I think the stars was just in the wardrobe of the king? I get the fellowship of the ring poster but it is the least captivating. Thanks for sharing.