http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/02/movies/02hobbit.html?_r=1&bl
While reading Michael Cieply's movie blog for the New York Times this weekend I came across a surprising and disturbing fact, as the blog's title said "Deal Near for ‘Hobbit’ Films in 3-D", my eyes immediately shot to my Collector's edition Lord of the Rings box set sitting on my DVD shelf, now worthless and incomplete. I saw each of the Lord of the Rings films in trailer and found them to be stunning. However, I have only seen each of the three films once and was not planning to watch them again for quite awhile, not because I did not enjoy them, but because the premise was difficult to remain engaged with for the very long time required to screen the whole movie. I thought the script was excellent, the acting was top-notch, and the visualization of the classic epic to be a great tribute to J.R.R. Tolken's books. But when discussing this famous trilogy I always come across several common frustrations among viewers:
1) The storyline for each film is essentially: walk, group divides in two, epic battle scene. Obviously this is an oversimplification of such a film but it remains true. While there are other elements of the plot of both drama and adventure, they exist in between these elements of the storyline.
2) The Middle-Earth accent is annoying and bothersome. While it may not bother some, I know I have a strong group of followers who believe the worst part of the Lord of the Rings films was Elijah Wood, I don't know if its his voice or overall lack of acting ability, but I think Samuel L. Jackson could would have played a better Frodo.
3) We're just kinda sick of Middle Earth. No offense to Peter Jackson, for the most part I enjoyed the films and I'm sorry that King Kong flopped, but that's no reason to go running back to the same formula.
While I understand the obvious financial motivation for MGM, Warner, and New Line to pursue making the Hobbit into a film franchise, I think it stands as a testament to the current state of the film industry. Rather than pursue new material and attempt to target a new audience with different imagination, they would rather stick to the formula and squeeze the cash cow for every last available dollar. One of my biggest pet-peeves of the film industry is the tendency to overuse and exploit the most original, and often most successful films. I was not a fan of the new Star Wars films, I disliked the second and third installments of the Matrix trilogy, I hated the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, and the fact that Jason Vorhees and Freddy Kruger are still alive is just an insult to movie goers. Nonetheless, while I'm sure the Hobbit will be a box office success and set numerous records, I'm also sure it will fall face-first in delivering the initial experience and will only serve to tarnish the audience's memories of their time in Middle Earth.
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