![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Note there are spoilers in this post. Scroll past if you don't want to know some quite specific details.
Earlier this year I mentioned here that I was intending to watch some of the animated Tolkien films from 1977-1980 soon. As I said then I'd never seen The Hobbit (1977) or The Return of the King (1980), though I have seen the doesn't-tell-the-whole-story The Lord of the Rings (1978), which I watched on Channel 4 one afternoon before Christmas in 1988 ...
It's taken us a while to get started. But first up last night was The Hobbit (1977), which I'd sourced a Spanish-released DVD copy of. After changing the settings to English language audio and no subtitles we were good to go with the 77 minutes long animated movie.
I knew going in that it was an extremely condensed retelling of the story. But I was honestly surprised by how much they packed into the running time. And the opening sections charmed me, with the pre titles sequence where Bilbo meets the dwarves and Gandalf, and the rather nice folk-inspired song "The Greatest Adventure". The other songs were more of a miss for me though. The dwarves are introduced phenomenally quickly, but that wasn't a problem for me. I find the original book overly long on this, never mind Peter Jackson's take on it.
The character design choices are a mix of good or curious to downright strange. Gandalf is as you would expect. Bilbo perhaps a bit Disney. The dwarves are a mix, some rather disturbing. Trolls ok. Elrond has a beard. Mmmm. Though I was pleased they managed to include that portion - I thought they'd skip it. Goblins suitably disturbing. Gollum very strange, but it sort of works. Wargs awesome. Ditto eagles. Mirkwood spiders suitably terrifying. Wood elves very very strange, and more scary looking than the goblins. Not sure about the Lake-town men. And Smaug looks more like a big cat (I've seen "bobcat" used to describe him) than a dragon, at least in facial features. Nice thrush though. The animation is generally good, with some particularly impressive visual moments. The animation work was done by a Japanese company linked to the future Studio Ghibli.
The voice acting is variable. Bilbo and Gandalf are fine. Gollum suitably disturbing. I liked Elrond's voice. But why does the elven king have an Austrian accent? And Smaug sounds strange. I wasn't familiar with the actor voices already, so didn't make connections with other roles. But just responded to how they sounded.
As I said I was impressed by how much they fitted in, including the trolls section, Rivendell and Elrond, the Misty Mountains and goblins and Gollum and riddles (good allowance of time for this key bit), then wargs (but no Beorn), Mirkwood spiders, the wood elves and barrel escape (to be fair that's phenomenally condensed into a couple of minutes), Lake-town, Lonely Mountain and Smaug, death of Smaug, Battle of the Five Armies, and Bilbo's return. The Battle bit was the only bit that dragged for me. I suppose after the hasty earlier sections its slightly more leisurely pace felt too slow. They also made a curious choice to depict some of the battle using dots viewed from overhead moving around. Which might be how someone at a distance - in this case Bilbo - might see things. But wasn't entirely successful.
They certainly missed other parts of the story, including some key moments, like Bilbo deciding not to kill Gollum. Nor did he steal the Arkenstone, and the emotional ending with Thorin was reduced as a result. Much was there though, just accelerated/edited hugely. And I'm still stunned by how much they did cover in the time.
The thing I liked least about the film is the ending, where Gandalf says some words to Bilbo, hinting that the ring he found is important, and in the future there will be more adventures involving other members of his family. Mmmmm. I can see why they did that. It's a quaint nod to them hopefully continuing the story (which the same team sort of did with The Return of the King animated movie in 1980). But to suggest that Gandalf has an awareness of or even hint of the importance of this ring at this time, never mind other foresight about its future, just feels so very wrong for this viewer/Tolkien fan at least.
However overall I enjoyed it. I think they got more things right than wrong. And I would far, far prefer to watch this 77 minutes version than the nearly 9 hours of Hobbit movies from Peter Jackson ...
Earlier this year I mentioned here that I was intending to watch some of the animated Tolkien films from 1977-1980 soon. As I said then I'd never seen The Hobbit (1977) or The Return of the King (1980), though I have seen the doesn't-tell-the-whole-story The Lord of the Rings (1978), which I watched on Channel 4 one afternoon before Christmas in 1988 ...
It's taken us a while to get started. But first up last night was The Hobbit (1977), which I'd sourced a Spanish-released DVD copy of. After changing the settings to English language audio and no subtitles we were good to go with the 77 minutes long animated movie.
I knew going in that it was an extremely condensed retelling of the story. But I was honestly surprised by how much they packed into the running time. And the opening sections charmed me, with the pre titles sequence where Bilbo meets the dwarves and Gandalf, and the rather nice folk-inspired song "The Greatest Adventure". The other songs were more of a miss for me though. The dwarves are introduced phenomenally quickly, but that wasn't a problem for me. I find the original book overly long on this, never mind Peter Jackson's take on it.
The character design choices are a mix of good or curious to downright strange. Gandalf is as you would expect. Bilbo perhaps a bit Disney. The dwarves are a mix, some rather disturbing. Trolls ok. Elrond has a beard. Mmmm. Though I was pleased they managed to include that portion - I thought they'd skip it. Goblins suitably disturbing. Gollum very strange, but it sort of works. Wargs awesome. Ditto eagles. Mirkwood spiders suitably terrifying. Wood elves very very strange, and more scary looking than the goblins. Not sure about the Lake-town men. And Smaug looks more like a big cat (I've seen "bobcat" used to describe him) than a dragon, at least in facial features. Nice thrush though. The animation is generally good, with some particularly impressive visual moments. The animation work was done by a Japanese company linked to the future Studio Ghibli.
The voice acting is variable. Bilbo and Gandalf are fine. Gollum suitably disturbing. I liked Elrond's voice. But why does the elven king have an Austrian accent? And Smaug sounds strange. I wasn't familiar with the actor voices already, so didn't make connections with other roles. But just responded to how they sounded.
As I said I was impressed by how much they fitted in, including the trolls section, Rivendell and Elrond, the Misty Mountains and goblins and Gollum and riddles (good allowance of time for this key bit), then wargs (but no Beorn), Mirkwood spiders, the wood elves and barrel escape (to be fair that's phenomenally condensed into a couple of minutes), Lake-town, Lonely Mountain and Smaug, death of Smaug, Battle of the Five Armies, and Bilbo's return. The Battle bit was the only bit that dragged for me. I suppose after the hasty earlier sections its slightly more leisurely pace felt too slow. They also made a curious choice to depict some of the battle using dots viewed from overhead moving around. Which might be how someone at a distance - in this case Bilbo - might see things. But wasn't entirely successful.
They certainly missed other parts of the story, including some key moments, like Bilbo deciding not to kill Gollum. Nor did he steal the Arkenstone, and the emotional ending with Thorin was reduced as a result. Much was there though, just accelerated/edited hugely. And I'm still stunned by how much they did cover in the time.
The thing I liked least about the film is the ending, where Gandalf says some words to Bilbo, hinting that the ring he found is important, and in the future there will be more adventures involving other members of his family. Mmmmm. I can see why they did that. It's a quaint nod to them hopefully continuing the story (which the same team sort of did with The Return of the King animated movie in 1980). But to suggest that Gandalf has an awareness of or even hint of the importance of this ring at this time, never mind other foresight about its future, just feels so very wrong for this viewer/Tolkien fan at least.
However overall I enjoyed it. I think they got more things right than wrong. And I would far, far prefer to watch this 77 minutes version than the nearly 9 hours of Hobbit movies from Peter Jackson ...
Current viewing
Aug. 4th, 2024 07:07 pmWatching Howl’s Moving Castle. At least the first half tonight, with more another day. Crikey it is very different from the book! Though the visuals are gorgeous.
A few nights ago I made a long list of the films I’d like to watch soon with Martin. There are quite a bunch of other animated films on the list. As well as big live action blockbusters, like the latest Indy and the recent D&D film.
A few nights ago I made a long list of the films I’d like to watch soon with Martin. There are quite a bunch of other animated films on the list. As well as big live action blockbusters, like the latest Indy and the recent D&D film.
Animated Hobbit/LOTR viewing
Jun. 28th, 2024 06:09 amI'm lining up some Tolkien animated films for us to watch. I have seen the 1978 animated Lord of the Rings before. Long, long ago in the 1980s. And I can't remember much of it. I have never seen the 1977 Hobbit, or the 1980 Return of the King. Martin has never seen any of them.
Frustratingly of these only the 1978 LOTR is available for streaming in the UK. I've previously nabbed that for us in iTunes, so we can watch that easily.
However I'd like to watch The Hobbit film first. Which isn't streamable in the UK. But I'm now nabbing a Spanish-released DVD. Which includes the original English language audio.
As for sourcing animated Return of the King, well that remains elusive, at least without a region-free player.
But yup. Animated Hobbit and LOTR coming up soon for us. This may be *interesting*.
Frustratingly of these only the 1978 LOTR is available for streaming in the UK. I've previously nabbed that for us in iTunes, so we can watch that easily.
However I'd like to watch The Hobbit film first. Which isn't streamable in the UK. But I'm now nabbing a Spanish-released DVD. Which includes the original English language audio.
As for sourcing animated Return of the King, well that remains elusive, at least without a region-free player.
But yup. Animated Hobbit and LOTR coming up soon for us. This may be *interesting*.
We just finished watching this tonight - though it’s only about 90 minutes long it took us 2 nights to watch it all, almost a week apart.
I liked it a lot, though it makes a lot of changes to the original Terry Pratchett story. The animation is strong, with some really good visuals and dramatic set pieces. And some great voice acting.
I’m still not sure about an extremely well fed Maurice, whose character is also tweaked. And the film’s added meta layer of Malicia telling a framing story is a bit overwhelming, though Emilia Clarke performs it well.
However overall it’s good stuff. And I’m glad to see it retains the darker elements of this novel. It’s definitely one of Terry Pratchett’s most hard hitting books, even though it’s ostensibly a children’s novel.
And there is a wonderful after credits moment.
I’d definitely be interested in more Pratchett novels done in an animated form.
I liked it a lot, though it makes a lot of changes to the original Terry Pratchett story. The animation is strong, with some really good visuals and dramatic set pieces. And some great voice acting.
I’m still not sure about an extremely well fed Maurice, whose character is also tweaked. And the film’s added meta layer of Malicia telling a framing story is a bit overwhelming, though Emilia Clarke performs it well.
However overall it’s good stuff. And I’m glad to see it retains the darker elements of this novel. It’s definitely one of Terry Pratchett’s most hard hitting books, even though it’s ostensibly a children’s novel.
And there is a wonderful after credits moment.
I’d definitely be interested in more Pratchett novels done in an animated form.
Watching and reading
Mar. 25th, 2022 10:17 pmFinally finished Pixar’s Onward, a week after we watched the first half. A lovely film, that definitely appealed to RPG geeks like us two! I was also struck by how much the magical landscape looked like Skye. Not sure when we’ll get to watch another film, but one down.
I started reading the first Expanse scifi book last night. I’m enjoying it, but struggling with the writing style in half the book. The book is split completely into alternating chapters, switching between two POV characters. I’m guessing the two authors who wrote the book together took one character each. The chapters are not just different settings/characters, but dramatically different in writing style, which only easily fits with a different writer. I’m hugely disliking the writing in the Miller chapters, finding it frenetic, choppy and uncomfortable to read. It’s a sort of hyper speeded up writing I greatly dislike. I am fine with the Holden chapters. But pushing on. It may be the only Expanse book I read though. This is a new novel read at the same time as Wheel of Time book 3, which is fantasy, much slower, and totally different in feel. I like to always have multiple books on the go, so if I don’t feel like reading one, or maybe would benefit from a brief break from it, I can switch to another temporarily. I also like to have a variety of non fiction and short story books on the go at the same time too, so I have lots of things to choose from on a given night.
I started reading the first Expanse scifi book last night. I’m enjoying it, but struggling with the writing style in half the book. The book is split completely into alternating chapters, switching between two POV characters. I’m guessing the two authors who wrote the book together took one character each. The chapters are not just different settings/characters, but dramatically different in writing style, which only easily fits with a different writer. I’m hugely disliking the writing in the Miller chapters, finding it frenetic, choppy and uncomfortable to read. It’s a sort of hyper speeded up writing I greatly dislike. I am fine with the Holden chapters. But pushing on. It may be the only Expanse book I read though. This is a new novel read at the same time as Wheel of Time book 3, which is fantasy, much slower, and totally different in feel. I like to always have multiple books on the go, so if I don’t feel like reading one, or maybe would benefit from a brief break from it, I can switch to another temporarily. I also like to have a variety of non fiction and short story books on the go at the same time too, so I have lots of things to choose from on a given night.
