The Hobbit...

I don't remember the first time I read The Hobbit. I do remember the last time I read The Hobbit. Several years ago, the power went out for several hours. My dog became restless without the fan blowing on her and the air purifier running white noise. A few days before, I'd received my lovely leather copy, with JRR Tolkien's illustrations, from Amazon. I opened the book and began to read aloud.

Now, the first installment of The Hobbit is out in theaters. My sister and I saw it at the IMAX theater. The screen is six-stories high. There isn't a bad seat in the house, i.e., the person who decides to sit right in front of you is below the bottom of the screen in your peripheral vision. Surround sound. 3-D. It was amazing!

Lots of action, no surprise being a Peter Jackson production. My sister and I are calling it Jacksonized. :-) He follows the story, essentially. The action is jam-packed into every moment possible, with occasional breathers. The 3-D was stunning. 3-D doesn't come across with me for the most part. I notice a bit more depth but not much else. This was more definitive.

Howard Shore's musical score was stunning. It maintained the continuity from The Lord of the Rings movies.

I did have a little trouble with motion sickness, at first. When I stopped trying to control the swooping and allowed myself to fly with it, motion sickness disappeared. Cool.

The Dwarves aren't what I imagined. They're more hunky. :-) I missed the different colored cloaks. 

Martin Freeman is a wonderful Bilbo.

The book is a children's tale. The movie is not.

I thoroughly enjoyed it.

My one complaint: The implication that pipe weed was pot. If you read Tolkien's bit on "About Hobbits," he states plainly it's tobacco (Nicotiana). The nudge-nudge/wink-wink it's anything else is an insult to my intelligence and drags me right out of the story.