I got the special edition of the soundtrack for BotFA about two weeks ago. Listened to it yesterday for the first time. I love it! It's not quite as heavy as RotK, but it still has that drama and adventure feel. You can hear shades and hints of various themes from LotR, but it isn't blatantly obvious as say Prince Caspian. It's woven in with a very subtle touch.

Varna, thanks for that very interesting and enlightening link (last post on previous page).

And, kat, overall I have not been impressed with the first 2 Hobbit movie soundtracks, but I am going to pay more attention to this last one, and I may even purchase it down the road. The music of TBotFA did strike me more in the theatre than did the others, especially with a number of The LotR themes integrated. I appreciate your thoughts on that.

So, my thoughts on TBotFA, many of which were very similar to what has already been stated:

Likes:

Spoiler

*Bard! He was so faithful to the book (except Evans looks too much like Bloom ). But I sorely missed his line "Black Arrow ... you have never failed me ... go now and speed well".

*Bilbo, although it seems, considering the book is called The Hobbit, that the poor little guy wasn't nearly the focus he should have been. His scenes with Thorin, in particular, were great!

*Balin! I have really liked his portrayal since movie 1, which makes his discovered death in The FotR that much more moving

*the sets and scenery and costumes were amazing

*the auction (and the silver spoons!)

*how the ending led right into The FotR

*love, love those sketches during the credits, as well as Billy Boyd's poignant closing song

Dislikes:

Spoiler

*the long, drawn-out battle scene. I also didn't care that Thorin was taken away from the main battle to go fight Azog, who has always bugged me

*the lack of Beorn (in this movie and the second one). Sure, he isn't in this part of the book much, yet he still plays a very crucial role in the battle, and they just didn't do him justice at all in these films

*Alfrid: what a dumb, silly character. And why would they have used him almost in place the Master of Laketown, anyway? And it's been said before, but why, oh why, would Bard have let Alfrid care for his children?!! I totally missed seeing the interaction between the foolish Master and wise Bard

*creepy Galadriel: I wholly agree with you, Lady Galadriel. She should have been shown as powerful, indeed, but not dark, even evil-looking. That would have only happened if she had taken the Ring!

*Tauriel and Kili

*Gandalf came across weak, both in this movie, as well as in The RotK, for the most part, blech!

*even though I liked Fili and Kili in the book, they did not resonate with me in any way in the movie, so their deaths were like "meh". Pity, because I wanted to care for them, but PJ kind of spoiled that for me

*Radagast: again, he was a beloved wizard in Tolkien's writings (even though he was rarely mentioned), but to me he was just silly and high in the films, as were his rabbits too, most likely

Inbetween:

Spoiler

*I didn't care for the death of Smaug (a slightly major event ) as only in the intro to the movie, as if it wasn't of much import

*the reference to Strider was sweet, but totally unrealistic, as he was still a lad growing up in Rivendell then

*Thranduil didn't do much for me. Really, overall, PJ did not make me care for any character except Bilbo and Balin. What a difference from The LotR! (This probably should have been in the Dislike column. )

That's all I can think of now, although I know there is lots more which I can't remember. I need to bring a pad and pen with me in the theatre, but then I'd probably be writing constantly.

In summary, I enjoyed this movie more than #2, but probably not as much as #1. Whatever the case, my strong feeling is that PJ should have stopped when the going was good ... after The LotR films. I think fame went to his head and he thought he could then deviate from the book in whatever way he so chose. Grrrrrrrr and hrrrrrrumph.

Spoiler

*creepy Galadriel: I wholly agree with you, Lady Galadriel. She should have been shown as powerful, indeed, but not dark, even evil-looking. That would have only happened if she had taken the Ring!

I'd agree with you, but only if both "Galadriel" and myself didn't just happen to both live in Sydney. Neither in its founding, nor in its development, and certainly not in its current form for the last six weeks or so, Sydney is not for the faint-hearted it would seem. "Evil Galadriel", even without "the one ring" might just about sort a few problems. Was Peter Jackson also hinting at the significance of Bilbo's find & the awakening of the One Ring? BTW, how long do we really need to keep spoilers?

Off all the Wrong in the Jackson series, I'll add only one nitpick here:

At the time of the Battle of Five Armies (Third Age 2941):

Strider = 9 years old.
Denethor = 9 years old.
Because math.

If I had control of the films, I would introduce Denethor's cameo like this:

Originally posted nowhere, by nobody, because imaginary

Chorus of redshirts: "Smaug is dead. Smaug is dead."

In Mirkwood, Thranduil reacts.

In the Carrock country, Beorn reacts.

In Gondor, Ecthelion and little Denethor react.

Note: Ecthelion is played for all of 6.2 seconds by Richard Gere, because he looks like Faramir's grand-dad. A lot. Check out First Knight photos; you don't have to endure the film. Dark-eyed, scowling Denethor is played by some 9-year-old who looks like Skandar Keynes at his mean-to-Lucy best.

How I would handle Strider/Aragorn's cameo:

Originally posted nowhere, by nobody, because imaginary

Chorus of Dwarves: "The food is green. Why is it green? We can't eat Elf-food that is green."

(Bilbo enters with both mutton and chicken. The man-cub is a growing boy, after all.)

Chorus of Dwarves: "Where did you get real food? You are our hero!"

Bilbo: "There's actually a baby man around here. He needs protein. Otherwise they wouldn't keep stuff like that around here."

Pick-a-Dwarf: "Where is it? I've never seen a baby man."

Bilbo: "You didn't miss much. Just some pimples. (sotto voce) Also picks his nose."

Note: because a homeless atheling isn't much of a catch. He had to work for Arwen; she wasn't owed to him, and some fans forget that.

That is all.

##########

Denethor would be sulking about having to grow up to be a bureaucrat, and Aragorn looking for gold in all the wrong places because they are little children. Aragorn isn't even called Aragorn, for goodness' sake! He's still Estel, the poor relation who isn't even told that he is a relation, however poor, because little children tattle. He even tattled the first day he was told the truth, if it comes to that.

You are so right. And at the age of 10, if I remember rightly, he hasn't even met Arwen, certainly not fallen for her - he only does that when he's about 20.

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I read all spoilers I can find. I'm getting curious now as to what they are doing with this timeline mix-up - whether there are any cameos, or whether people are just talking about a famous 10 year old general (or not mentioning his age ).

But do remember that in TTT:EE, Aragorn says he's 87. If the story of The Hobbit is still 50-60 years before that, he'd be in his late twenties or thirties at the end, which fits perfectly with the line that Thranduil delivers.

There's also the timeline-twist within Jackson's LotR movie, where the 17 years from Bilbo's disappearing until Frodo's journey only takes about 17 days (or even less) in the movie. Add those 17 years to bookAragorn's 10, and he's suddenly 27 and desperately trying to make himself worthy of an Elven Princess. Perhaps it does make sense after all - within the movie timeline.

But do remember that in TTT:EE, Aragorn says he's 87. If the story of The Hobbit is still 50-60 years before that, he'd be in his late twenties or thirties at the end, which fits perfectly with the line that Thranduil delivers.

I consulted the timeline and found that Aragorn was having his 88th birthday that day.

Gandalf clearly knows that Bilbo still has the ring in FotR and Bilbo shows no surprise that Gandalf knows so that doesn't work with the ending of the Hobbit.

Mel, you raise some good and sadly unanswerable questions in your post. I guess we finally see Bilbo's prospective at the end. He was after all unconscious during the "victory" part of the battle in the book.

Did anyone else think that Galadriel had the phial of Galadriel in her hand while fighting Sauron?

Mel, you raise some good and sadly unanswerable questions in your post. I guess we finally see Bilbo's prospective at the end. He was after all unconscious during the "victory" part of the battle in the book.

Ah. That must be it.

Now that you mention it, I do sort of recall seeing the phial of Galadriel. I'm sure that means it has some sort of nifty backstory...

I have finally seen the movie - I suspect it won't run for much longer in Oslo, after having run for 6 or 7 weeks, so I made sure to see it in the theaters at least once.

Although there are scenes I don't care much for (far too long fighting scenes, for one thing), I basically liked it. I'd agree with those that have said that part 3 is better than part 2. I should watch it again - but that might not be until I buy the DVD (preferably the Extended Edition).

Seeing Legolas running up crumbling stairs, reminded me of him running on top of the snow. I don't exactly remember that from the FotR movie, but I remember it very well from the book.

Originally posted by Varnafinde:

Seeing Legolas running up crumbling stairs, reminded me of him running on top of the snow. I don't exactly remember that from the FotR movie, but I remember it very well from the book.

The star comment reminds of a snark I heard, can't remember where:
"Parkour ... invented by kittens."

But as regarding the snow, I'm guessing Elves have some science, magic, or other that let Legolas turn the snow into a non-Newtonian fluid like the famous cornstarch tests. No idea if Tolkien had heard of it, though. [/nerd moment]

Last Christmas we went to see the third instalment of The Hobbit. Both of Peter Jackson's productions have now finished. And now the Road has finished definitely for Saruman. For Dracula and for other characters played by Christopher Lee. This morning on the news we heard this 93 year old actor has passed away, due to heart failure. I thought I should let you all know.

That's sad news. He did an amazing job as Saruman - I haven't seen his other films/characters.

He was really devoted to Tolkien's works - by the time LotR was filmed, he was still reading it every year, because he thought it was such an important book. He will be missed.

It is sad, indeed, and the news was flooding my FB newsfeed the other day, not surprisingly. What a career Lee has had, although, like Varna, I have not seen any films he was in besides The Lord of the Rings. For me, as for many others, I presume, he simply was Saruman! Although I recall reading he was hoping to land the Gandalf role. I love that he read TLotR every year ... and long before the films were even thought of. Also, he was the only cast member who actually met Tolkien, and I quote ...

I met him quite by chance, really,” he recalled in the interview. “I met him with a group of other people in a pub in Oxford he used to go to, The Eagle and Child. I was very much in awe of him, as you can imagine, so I just said, ‘How do you do?’”