Bilbo in RotK
 

All I could say when I saw him at the end is:<BR>TEE HEE!

Yeah, he looked really old and kind of funny. I expected him to keep his white afro and maybe have a few more lines on his face, not become fully decrepit and weird-looking. I mean, how much can a person age in one year?

Well he did lose the ring, but, yes I too thought that he looked to old though. But when he and Frodo are riding in the covered wagon. I thought that was a really touching moment.

too old

The makeup was a bit much. But I could see him aging rapidly once he no longer had the ring. Plus, it was about four years since we saw him last in Rivendell (in movie time). Frodo talked about it being "four years to the day since Weathertop" or something along those lines.<P>-Lily

bilbo was really funny looking, with his long white hair, his face was just really really funny, i thunk they went just a bit over the top with the make-up on that one. did you notice Sam and frodo didnt get any older though, and niether did merry or pippin.

It was a little extreme, but they did make him look older, like the book said.

He reminded me of the guy from Back to the Future <P>While I was pleased they included him, the prosthetics were a bit much, at first I wasn't even sure it was Ian Holm. If they'd left the hair curly, it probably wouldn't have been so "alarming", if that's the right word...<P>Was <I>very</I> pleased they left in the bit about him asking Frodo about the Ring

I've seen the movie twice and both times, I spent so much time thinking, "Is that him? Is Ian Holm still in there? It doesn't LOOK like Ian Holm anymore. Is it? Isn't it?? What did they do to him? Couldn't they afford to bring him back? Is that a substitute actor???" that I almost missed his lines, and I was very distracted until he walked onto the ship and the focus moved back to the four younger hobbits. Which (to me) means that the makeup job was over the top.

I thought that the extent of the change in Bilbo at the end of the movie reflected the extent to which the ring had power over him. I mean, the ring was the only thing that was keeping him from aging, and once it was gone, he started to age at an accelerated rate. He was supposed to be in his 120s at that point, and you have to admit, that's pretty old. So yeah, he looked shockingly different, so you almost didn't recognize him, but I thought that just illustrated the effects of losing the ring and how, without it, age caught up to him pretty fast.

I do think his make up was a bit OTT, just slightly! <P>Hey, does anyone agree that Bilbo looked like Yoda, in ROTK?!<P>~King_Elessar~

"Lost, the Ring is!" Yes, he did have a whiff of Yoda about him, especially when you see him getting onto the ship.<P>The makeup job floored me for the first second but once he spoke - and the voice was Bilbo's - it didn't bother me too much. I guess that since he's been kept alive beyond the normal span by the Ring, its destruction would go a lot harder on him than it would on someone even like Frodo, who was still a normal age (no matter whether you go by the movie or the book version). But yes, he looked like he couldn't get to that revivifying air of the Undying Lands a minute too soon.

I nearly started snickering when he asked Frodo about what happened to "his old Ring." I know that it was a touching scene and everything, but the half-bewildered, half-incredibly-irritated-at-my-old-decrepit-uncle-who-forgot-that-I-lost-a-friggin'-finger-while-destroying-the-Ring look on Frodo's face was absolutely priceless!

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> Hey, does anyone agree that Bilbo looked like Yoda, in ROTK?! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>Was Yoda in ROTK? I managed to spot Darth Vader dying on the Pelennor Fields, although I have to admit that Luke looked even more girly than usual. Oh, wait, was it the bit where he said: <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> There is... another... Bagginss... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Seriously, I was <B>very relieved</B> to see the job they did on Bilbo. The ageing of Bilbo in FOTR was an inconsistency of epic proportions! If Bilbo aged so much as soon as the Ring was not in his immediate possession, then why didn't Gollum suddenly disintegrate when he lost it?! ROTK provided us with the (still fairly flaky) answer: you age a bit when you first lose it, and then as soon as it's destroyed you <B>really</B> look your age. Remember that Bilbo was now the eldest hobbit to have ever lived, partly due to unnatural effects. I'm not surprised he looked so terrible! When 133 years old (?) <B>you</B> reach, look as good you will not! <P>Besides, I thought the shot of Frodo and Bilbo riding along together was one of the pleasant surprises of the movie. It managed to eloquently capture what the book tried to say: that Frodo (and Bilbo) were wounded very deeply by their possession of the Ring, and by its destruction. They were now unable to live with the other inhabitants of the Shire, or anywhere in Middle-Earth. They could find comfort only in the Undrying Lands, and with each other. Very touching. Kudos, Peter.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> "Is that him? Is Ian Holm still in there? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Oh, it was Ian Holm alright.<P>I thought that the make-up job was excellent. It made him look his age, which you would expect once the Ring had been destroyed.<P> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> Besides, I thought the shot of Frodo and Bilbo riding along together was one of the pleasant surprises of the movie. It managed to eloquently capture what the book tried to say: that Frodo (and Bilbo) were wounded very deeply by their possession of the Ring, and by its destruction. They were now unable to live with the other inhabitants of the Shire, or anywhere in Middle-Earth. They could find comfort only in the Undrying Lands, and with each other. Very touching. Kudos, Peter. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Spot on, doug. <P>Although it did make me somewhat sorry for Bilbo that he would remain in such an aged state for the remainder of his days in the Undying Lands. It would be nice to believe that being there did have a revitalising effect on him.<P>Nevertheless, the "ageing of Bilbo" worked for me. <P>My one gripe is that, when we see Bilbo boarding the boat, the "smaller scale" stand-in looked faintly ridiculous from behind - clearly someone a lot youger wearing a white curly wig. There were a few muffled titters in the cinema where I was. <p>[ 7:14 PM December 21, 2003: Message edited by: The Saucepan Man ]

Bilbo's over-the-top makeup in RotK looked precisely like the aged Salieri in <I>Amadeus</I>. And disagreeably distracting.<P>"Mediocrities of the world, I absolve thee!"

I have to agree with the rest. My first thought on seeing Bilbo at the end was "Holy Carp, that's an odd looking thing? It sounds just like Bilbo. Nah, couldn't be, could it? Hello...Mister Bilbo, you in there?"<P>I got over it at the sight of the boats to Grey Haven (pretty colors, oooooooooo.)<P>But one thing I did notice. When the Big People offer to take Bilbo with them (obviously in a more touching and dramatic sequence than I make it sound like ), you can see a change in Bilbo. His face lights up a bit, he stands taller, and his eyes have the same determined/joyful glimmer I remember from his 111th birthday. The wrinkles are still there, but not as deep. He looked, younger.<P>That's about the time I sat up and said "Hey it IS Bilbo!" (which for some reason made my already crying friend cry even harder)<P>But maybe that's just me.

I thought they did a pretty good job on him...maybe a little excesive, but hey, in the books he could barely even stay awake he was so old . With that in mind, I don't think they were to far off base.

As previously stated, I do agree that the extreme change in appearance was created to emphasize the ring's effects. The ring had slowed his aging process for so long, so that his body had to go into warp-speed to catch up. <P>I do admit that his appearance startled me. I breathed a sigh of relief when he was safely aboard the ship and out of sight, heh.