There are two main items to discuss with Peter Jackson's The Hobbit, which came out about a week ago. The two items are, how was the movie, and what's this about the 48 fps filming?
The ends of the discussion for both are overwhelming, "GREAT!!"
Jackson did something with The Hobbit which even J.R.R. Tolkien didn't do in his novel. Jackson added some backstory to the originally light novel to give it some conniving depth that a first-time reader of The Hobbit without ever reading or knowing LOTR would gain some useful insight.
First off, the movie is not complete. Expect at Part II and a Part III. I can't even fathom how they're going to break the remaining part of the novel into two parts, but let's see. This Part I ends (SPOILER ALERT!!) after the eagles take the dwarves, Bilbo and Gandalf from their precarious situation against the goblins to a safe haven just west of Mirkwood Forest.
For those of you who are familiar with the story (I've read the book a number of times), after arrival west of Mirkwood, there's an encounter with Beorn the bear-like person; then the travel through Mirkwood; an encounter with the super spiders in Mirkwood (more proof of Bilbo's indispensability); bargaining with the wood-elves; and meeting up with the citizens of Lake-town. That's when I'm guessing where Part II ends. If I'm right, Part III will be the final leg trek to Lonely Mountain, the encounter with Smaug, the ensuing Battle of Five Armies and ending with Bilbo's walk home.
In Jackson's movie retelling of the story, Bilbo explains what occurred from much further back in time. Bilbo explains how Erebor,now called Lonely Mountain, was the richest kingdom, through mining within the mountain; how the dwarves were defeated in Moria by orcs (funny, there were no orcs in the book, The Hobbit, they were called goblins instead); and how the thirteen dwarves come to be at Bilbo's doorstep. Jackson also gives a more significant role to Radagast the Brown, another wizard with minimal presence in the book. Radagast met a necromancer who hints of the existence of Sauron, who was never discussed in the original book. I liked that touch of connecting to LOTR.
Another thing I like about Jackson's version is his deference to the mid-70s animated version of The Hobbit done by the Rankin/Bass animation team. In that anime-like made-for-TV movie, the dwarves sing a song of their home. The melody in this current movie is similar the melody composed for the 70s animated movie. Also, the goblin king within Misty Mountain, as depicted in this 2012 movie, is very much reminiscent of the goblin king in the animation version. I give Jackson kudos for paying tribute to a previous interpretation of the book.
The new character, Azog, an orc chief who killed King Thror in Moria plays a significantly expanded role in the movie. In the book, as far as I can remember, there was no mention of Azog. (I'm getting this info about Azog from Wikipedia.)
Lastly, so how was the 48 fps shooting? I thought it was fantastic. I know exactly what Peter Jackson is referring to. Jackson loves a lot of motion in his shots. The camera moves, the characters move, things fly here and there. In all other movies I've seen, these movements cause flickering, noticeable, not not irritating. Now, the flickering disappears completely and the movi
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