Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be covering an animated movie from 1977. That movie is "The Hobbit".
Now, my history with "The Lord of the Rings" is a bit different from others. You see, I didn't grow up reading the books. And while everyone gushes over about how great the Peter Jackson movies are, I've never seen them. I might've seen a little bit of the first movie on TCM years ago, but nothing beyond that. The only thing I've seen from J.R.R. Tolkien's series is when I watched Ralph Baskhi's version that came out a year after this film did. And while that movie was flawed as hell, what with it having a troubled production, I still enjoyed it enough to keep for my DVD collection. I also have played the video game version of "The Hobbit" on Gamecube, although very little of it. I've been wanting to get back into it at some point, however, a huge backlog of gaming has been piling up, so I kinda have to work around that somehow.
So yes, my history isn't as aligned with this series as most others are on it. Which then brings me to this movie. And if you're not familiar with this movie, it's essentially a prequel to the "Lord of the Rings", where it focuses on Bilbo Baggins. Which is great for me because, while I'm a little familiar with how "The Lord of the Rings" goes, I haven't really experienced too much of it's prequel storyline. So this will be a new experience for me. Also, I should mention that this movie was produced by Rankin/Bass and Topcraft. I've talked about them beforehand when I reviewed "The Flight of Dragons", because they've produced two wonderful movies, both in "The Flight of Dragons" and "The Last Unicorn", the latter being my favorite fantasy film of all time.
And now, I get to experience another film from their catalog. And I'm hoping that this one is going to be just as good as the other two films are. Granted, I know that's sorta setting a high bar here, but I really want to like this one because I just have that feeling that it's going to be great. So it's time to see if this movie will actually live up to that greatness as I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "The Hobbit".
9 minutes later
Well, guys, this really shouldn't come as a shocker, seeing as this film is from Rankin/Bass, but the music in this movie is really good so far. Granted, the songs are a little slower paced than others, but I'm still really liking it, guys. It's just that good.
4 minutes later
OK, I have a question here. Really kind of a stupid one, but I'm still gonna ask it anyway. So, Bilbo was caught by the trolls after he was forced into stealing their meat, while the trolls are sitting around their campfire eating. Why didn't they wait until *after* the trolls fell asleep? I'd think you have a better chance at that than trying to poach it while they're still awake. That just seems like a really stupid move on the dwarfs part. Oh, and now they're caught, too. At least Bilbo got away while the trolls were distracted. So, at least he has a chance to regroup and try to rescue them.
1 minute later
Oh...I didn't know that trolls turned to stone in the daylight. I always thought that was just limited to creatures like gargoyles, but I guess not. You do learn something new everyday, don't ya?
9 minutes later
OK, I have another question here. So this is the second time that Gandalf has saved Bilbo and the dwarfs. Why doesn't he just stick around with them rather than just going off on his own merry way until they get into trouble? I know he's technically on the journey with them, but it seems to me that Gandalf's really the only one who's doing any actual work rather than any of the dwarfs. I'm just saying that, maybe, they could contribute a little bit other than just having Gandalf saving their asses every time. Just a thought, really.
17 minutes later
OK, so Gandalf is actually gonna let Bilbo take over as leader of the dwarfs for the rest of the journey by giving him the map, while Gandalf goes out to take care of some business. Hopefully, he stays true to his word this time, because, well, it's suppose to be centered around Bilbo Baggins. If not, then I'm gonna be a little bit disappointed.
8 minutes later
All right, guys, I am gonna say that the songs here are still really good. That much I can say with certainty. However, I'm having a slight problem with how the story is playing out with Bilbo just narrating about what's been happening as the movie progresses. I'll talk more about it later once I get to reviewing this film, but I just wanted to let you guys know now that the writing here is becoming a little bit of a problem at the moment.
The Review
Well, guys, that was "The Hobbit". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. Well, I am gonna start off by saying that, while this movie is indeed flawed, I actually still think it's pretty good. It's nowhere near as good as "The Last Unicorn" or "The Flight of Dragons", but it is still enjoyable in it's own way.
So, why don't we go ahead and start this review off proper here by first talking about the writing. Now, seeing as how I haven't read any of the books or seen any of the Peter Jackson movies, I can't really make comparisons as to which is better and why. So basically, it really just comes down to how well this film is able to stand on it's own standards. And on it's own standards, I would say that it's a pretty good fantasy adventure film. However, it does run into a couple of noticeable problems that sorta plague this movie from being great. One of those problems is the runtime. This thing clocks in at 78 minutes long, and that really isn't time to let this sort of film breathe and help develop it's characters. I understand that when you are adapting something, whether's something like a novel, or game, etc., you have to make some changes or cut out some things in order for your adaptation to function, however, I feel like this film doesn't really do enough, because it feels like they just rushed through certain sequences in order to get to the mountain where Smaug is keeping the stolen treasure.
Which then greatly transitions into the next big problem this movie has. The pacing here is just incredibly uneven. Part of the reason why the pacing is uneven is due to the film's short runtime, but, like I also said, they rushed through quite a bit in order to get to the more interesting parts of the story. The biggest example is when after Gandalf gives the map to Bilbo and he travels with his dwarf companions, it's when the story starts to feel rushed. Which is funny, because the first half of the movie before that is actually paced really well. Because they did have a bit more breathing room to show more of Bilbo and friends adventure, and it never felt like they rushed through that. After that, though, a lot of what happens afterwards is told through narration by Bilbo. Now the reason why he's doing this narration is because he's making a journal to show his progress on what's been going on while Gandalf is away. And it's sort of a double edge sword because while it's cool that you actually see some of the progress while he's narrating, it's still rushed because this film doesn't have the time to show everything in a better paced fashion.
And on another note, I want to talk about something that really sorta bugged me about a certain part of Bilbo's narration. You see, after his companions get captured by the elven people, he mentions that it took *weeks* for him to discover the keys one of the guards was carrying and then use the barrels as a clever way to escape from the caves. And this raises a bunch of questions for me that I'll try to narrow down. One, how the hell is Bilbo surviving all this while his companions are jailed? Yes, I know he has the ring to make himself invisible, but he still has to eat and stuff to survive. Two, why the hell did it take him weeks, not days or hours, *weeks* to find the guards keys in order to release his friends? And three, assuming Bilbo was taking his sweet ass time to find the jail keys, what the hell else has he been doing this entire time while trying to find the keys?! Now yes, you could probably say that this question is just sorta combining the previous the two questions I already posed, but still, I really would like to know something about Bilbo's questionable methods.
And seeing as how I mentioned Bilbo and his companions, I'm gonna say that the characters in this movie aren't really that well developed. And it's not just because of the film's short runtime that hinders this, but also because the characters themselves, with the exceptions of Bilbo and Gandalf. I could probably maybe add Gollum and Smaug, because they actually have something resembling a personality. But as for Bilbo's dwarf companions, you really don't care about them very much. Hell, I can't even remember their names because a lot of them are just that bland and boring. And that goes for the humans, the elven people, and eagles. None of them have any real defining character traits and they're not really in the movie for very long. Also, I don't know if this came from the books or the movies, but apparently, from between Bilbo breaking out his companions to getting to Smaug's mountain, Bilbo also has a little blue bird that follows him. Again, I have no idea if this bird came from any of the books or movies, but that honestly felt a little tacked on and it just comes out of nowhere, really.
So, as you may have already guessed, the writing in this film is certainly flawed. However, as much as I can throw criticism at this movie, I still feel like it's worth watching. Because, as far as I know of, this is the very first anything from J.R.R. Tolkien that ever got adapted into a movie. Well technically, this one is a TV movie, but still, again, as far as I can think of, this film was the very first of anything from Tolkien to ever get adapted. Which, if that is the case, then that's really cool. Because it shows the potential of what you can do with this particular series and how it can be adapted to for future works, which is why we got Ralph Baksh's attempt at it, Peter Jackson's trilogy and his own take on "The Hobbit" films, and I also know that there is technically a sequel to this particular movie by Rankin/Bass, which is, oddly enough, "The Return of the King". Admittedly, that's a rather huge leap from this story to that one, but I'll save that for another time for when I ever get around to reviewing that movie. I'm really curious to see how they jump ship from a prequel to "The Lord of the Rings" all the way to it's finale.
So anyway, getting back on track with this movie, let's talk about the acting next. And I'm gonna say that the acting here is pretty solid. Granted, there are some lines here and there where it comes off as a bit cheesy for it's time, but for the most part, they were able to make their delivery work. Special mention is gonna go to Richard Boone voicing Smaug the dragon. And yeah, I was not expecting for Smaug to talk, but he does, and his voice just comes off as more American rather than having a lot of accents going on for the dwarfs. And also, he comes off as somewhat as normal up until he starts to get angry and starts going on a rampage. Of course, I'm talking about his character, Smaug, and not the actor himself, obviously, just in case someone reads my words wrong for some reason. But anyway, Boone's performance in this film makes Smaug stand out as the most interesting character of the entire movie. At least for me anyway. But overall, the acting here is still really good.
Animation in this movie is, for the most part, really good. However, there are moments where it'll feel a bit rough around the edges. Part of the reason is because of the fight sequences. A lot of them are just rushed and don't have any real weight to it, such as when Bilbo is fighting off the spiders. There's this weird psychedelic scene that happens as if someone's getting damaged or killed by Bilbo's magic dagger, and it just looks really visually off-putting. Another example is the final act during the war segment. Now granted, a lot of it is just lines and dots of what is happening, but it also comes back to a point where I feel like the movie could've benefited from a slightly longer runtime because they really could've extended some scenes, like the battles scenes in order for them to look a little bit more natural. Though that also could be seen as just me nitpicking that bit.
The character designs in this movie are really good. Bilbo stands out as the most unique because of his design, specifically his eyes, because his is the only ones that look slightly more detailed than, say, the dwarfs. The dwarfs themselves are designed well enough, however, despite them wearing different clothes, it's sort of difficult to get invested in any of them, seeing as how none of them have any actual character to them, outside of maybe one of them that interacts with Bilbo the most. I don't remember his name because, as I just said, his name is rather forgettable. Now I'm sure he probably had a bigger role in the books or the Peter Jackson films, but as I stated before, I've never seen any of the movies in full or read any of the books, and I'm reviewing this thing off it's own standards.
But getting back on topic with the animation, the design of Middle Earth is beautiful and it captures the kind of fantasy world that would fit into "The Lord of the Rings". Personally speaking, I feel like the Ralph Bakshi movie did it slightly better. However, I'm also aware that they are also two different stories, so I feel like it would be a bit unfair if I compared them based on that alone. Still though, what is here is still really cool and beautiful to look at. So on that end, I can at least say the animation and art design is really solid, aside from a few hiccups here and there.
Sound-mixing here is decent, although I feel like, at times, the sound can be a bit quiet with dialogue. Though that could be just a technical issue on my end, so I can't really fault the sound here too much, since just about all of it is very listenable. The music here is really good. Because, similar to "The Flight of Dragons", the score is composed by Maury Laws. And the music here is almost perfect for the kind of world that would take place in Middle Earth. However, if I had to nitpick one thing, I feel as if there's a little too much music playing at times. See, as I've already talked about this at length, but the pacing here is a bit of an issue. So to help sorta mend this, they have songs playing in certain sequences that I feel as if they really could've done with just a regular score. The best would be "The Last Unicorn" because while that movie did have songs in it, they didn't have them playing over certain sequences that didn't really need it. That, plus the songs were to help build the characters and the story. And while some of it here does work, it also feels like the movie almost refused to have a moment or two where you can have silence. Let me reiterate that the music here is far from bad, it's just that they could've balanced it out with some silent moments here and there.
So yeah, guys, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "The Hobbit"? Yes, especially if you've never seen this iteration of this movie before and have only been exposed to the Peter Jackson movies. Mind you, I would not call it great by any means, but on it's own standards, it's still a pretty good movie. And if you're curious to see how they were able to adapt something like this into animated movie, then I can certainly say that it's worth checking out, if at least just once. I myself still enjoyed it, despite it's short comings. I'm not entirely certain if I would watch it again on repeat viewings, but I still might give it another watch at some point. I'm also really curious how they were able to adapt the other story "The Return of the King" because, as I mentioned before, I've seen Ralph Bakshi's version of "The Lord of the Rings", and that film covered the first two books. This one I've seen, and it's basically a prequel to that famous trilogy. So that just leaves the animated version of "The Return of the King". But until that day comes, I'm gonna go and rewatch Ralph Bakshi's "The Lord of the Rings" because I still really enjoyed that movie despite it's flaws. So I'm gonna go do that next as soon as I get done with this review.
Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.
