I read Tolkien's
The Hobbit, because I watched the first movie, which is the first third of the book. I think the movie was better than the first third and I think the next 2 movies will be better than the last part of the book. I don't like it that much because Tolkien seems to appreciate quantity over quality. He just lists the dangers and obstacles that the characters have to overcome but doesn't really describe them or tell how any character is feeling, and therefore little character development occurs. I know this is bad to say, because Harry Potter isn't respected in the literary world, but I just feel so strongly that Harry Potter is so much better than The Hobbit. One of the reason's there has to be 3 parts for a 330 page book is because so much happens, but there is no detail so it doesn't take long. The movie, though will create the details so it will be a lot of hours. It is very anti-climactic, too. Because the "plot" was that they had to get their home away from the dragon, but someone else ended up killing the dragon before them. And then there was a whole war in like 4 pages!!!
I'm glad I read it because it is such a popular book, but I wouldn't recommend it.
You have good ideas, but you also must remember that Tolkien wrote this as a children's story and generally children's characters don't have a ton of development.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree, the movie feels really long and they have a lot of mini adventures before they meet their goal of killing the dragon to get the gold (and they don't even think about how to carry the gold back!!) Which reminds me that the Lord of the Rings trilogy is all about destroying the ring, and that's three movies/books.