An Unexpected Journey, or the morning after

[THE Ka]

Originally Posted by Aganzir

Rivendell was another confusing part. I seriously couldn't see what reason Elrond would have for not wanting the dwarves to get the Mountain back from the dragon. It's a freaking dragon! They're never up to good, and at least I would be grateful if somebody else wanted to do away with it. Basically what we got here was Galadriel and Gandalf plotting behind Saruman's back - at a time when he was still to be trusted - and no dwarves, except breaking furniture and leaving all of a sudden, leaving Gandalf behind just for the heck of it.

I have to agree with this whole heartily. At first you come to understand they're trying to show Gandalf's talent with diplomacy, at least with getting Elrond to look at the moon runes without a scene of panic (which is odd from the book, I tend to remember Elrond being rather interested in their quest. Mysterious at first, but more as the wise councilor several hundred years tends to give a person.). The eleven scouts making a grand show of circling the company was a little unnerving. I highly doubt Elrond has that much of a self esteem issue that he'd be threatened by someone of his house welcoming guests than himself first.

I was rather impressed by the inclusion of the white council, since I thought that might have been ignored, which would have been a great loss to the 'backroom happenings' of the story. Though, like much else in the scene, it was rather rushed. Of course there is a great deal of haste given they only have the latter half of summer to trek across ME, but I felt myself echoing Balin's own statement when they camp in the mountains for the night.

The riddles scene was probably the most memorable and faithful part I saw. All around I was impressed and even alright with the addition of Bilbo's final confrontation with Gollum before escaping the mountains. It lent some depth to Frodo's trials and tribulations with Gollum/Smeagol in ROTK.

Before I get into Radagast (and that rabbit sled), first I need to say that I was very worried for his character inclusion in TH. As little as we know about him from canon, he's always been my favorite among the wizards. His portrayal to me was both memorable and sometimes cringe worthy at times. The biggest worry was that he would be thrown in as an all out "stoner" at the comic relief of other characters, ignoring that he actually is an Istari.

He was shown to be vapid of thought at times, but not at the expense of his character, which was nice. If anything, the scene of him recounting the Necromancer, shines light on Saruman's rather scathing disapproval at his 'microcosm' approach in life, a lover of the details and small things. Also rather nice was to see his attachment to the natural world. Fans who may have no clue of him from LOTR, or have forgotten his brief mention there, can clearly see he's a certain Valar's representative.
The mention of Alatar and Pallando was a nice little nod too.

Overall, I believe as many it could have gone a lot worse. The Hobbit has been my favorite Tolkien work for years and the idea of turning it into a film always seemed a little daunting to me without the obvious pit falls, but there are a few small gems in the film that save it from too much scathing.

After all, it is an adaptation at the end of the day. There are folks who might be inclined to pick up the book as we have and give it a go because of the films and then there is always a few who will think that the original work 'takes away' (for lack of a better phrase) from the film version. It's just nice to know PJ made some small effort to remember key events from the original.
As for the next two films, we have yet to see of course.