The Hobbit Movie Trailer!

[Mister Underhill]

My secret hope for this trailer, to say nothing of the film itself, is that it rouses a few slumbering wights and draws them from their barrows to caper on the Downs once more...

[piosenniel]

I'm dusting off the Hobbit costume I wore to the first LotR movie and sticking my old One Ring in my pocketses!!

Loved the Dwarven song . . . can't wait to see the Eagles . . .

[Estelyn Telcontar]

But, but - there are no instruments at Bag End!!! I want to see fiddles and flutes and viols and clarinets and a drum and a harp!

Aside from that, the general look of things is good, and yes - we now have one year to immerse ourselves in the hype! Did you notice that there is never a clear glimpse of any of the baddies? Keeping up the suspense...

[Elmo]

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

But, but - there are no instruments at Bag End!!! I want to see fiddles and flutes and viols and clarinets and a drum and a harp!

Aside from that, the general look of things is good, and yes - we now have one year to immerse ourselves in the hype! Did you notice that there is never a clear glimpse of any of the baddies? Keeping up the suspense...

Or they haven't done the CGI for them yet

[Mithalwen]

Yawwwwwwwwwwwn... apart from Galadriel sharing a tender moment with Gandalf it is same old same old.... despite the divine Mr Armitage....

[mark12_30]

The dwarves can sing... good, good. Instruments would be better, but still. I liked it.

Rivendell... good, good.

I find the continuity pleasant and hopeful. I'm not expecting perfection. Overall I liked it. And I plan to enjoy it.

[Kuruharan]

I liked the singing.

I think Bilbo is going to turn out alright.

Aside from some bothersome beardlessness and the glaringly fake ears the dwarves look more or less ok. Kiligolas is the worst offender on the beardless front in my opinion. He doesn't even have a beard at all, just stubble.

Is it my imagination but does Thorin's nose change size..? When he's shown starting the song it looks all big but later when he's whispering to Gandalf it looks normal sized again.

Evidently we are also going to get a fight with the trolls rather than what is described in the book (what a surprise).

I originally thought the shots of Gandalf by himself in the ruin were of him exploring Dul Guldur, but I have changed my mind and think it is just some random ruin.

We are also apparently going to have to deal with some typical elven egotism when the dwarves arrive at Rivendell (if that is indeed what that ridiculous scene with the elves on horses riding around the dwarves was).

apart from Galadriel sharing a tender moment with Gandalf

That kinda creeped me out. I don't think many people picked that the silly and uncalled for romance in The Hobbit would be between Galadriel and Gandalf...but it suddenly looks that's the way it will go.

[EDIT] Apparently I'm not the only one bothered by the prospect of Galadriel and Gandalf bumping uglies.

[Rumil]

Ooooh nice,

Interesting, so what's happening, what clues do we have, what do we think my preciousssessss?

Bilbo I like but should be fatter at least at the beginning

We've commented on the Dwarves before, and the extreme lengths they had to go to to differentiate them, especially regarding hairstyles.

Bombur looks to be the comedy relief, to an extent he was in the Book, but I expect the film to be less subtle

Agree Esty, missing clarinets, drums and whatnot! Also a lack of colour-coded hoods, which you'd have thought would have been helpful.

Thorin seems dark and brooding which fits well, not sure he's properly dwarf-shaped though but I guess we'll see.

Where's Gandalf supoosed to be at 1.19? I can't think where open-air ruins fit except for maybe the remains of Dale or his earlier mission to Dol Guldur?

Gandalf meeting Galadriel - White Council scene presumably

1.36 Gandalf in Goblin-Town or Dol Guldur?

Who are the elves(?) on horseback at 1.52 Rivendell? (if so, then not terribly tra-la-lalally) or Thranduil's place, in which case it looks too Rivendelly?

1.58 Where's Gandalf fighting??

Must say I'm quite looking forward to it!

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

Yawwwwwwwwwwwn... apart from Galadriel sharing a tender moment with Gandalf it is same old same old.... despite the divine Mr Armitage....

And what is up with that!? A teaser for a spinoff movie? Coming Fall 2014: The Council of Seduction or, One Night With a Wizard.

[skip spence]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

And what is up with that... One Night With a Wizard.

... and his wand?? (though Gandalf insists on calling it staff)...

I'm shocked, frankly... and it's hard to not make bad jokes but I'll stop there...

And yes, what is that tall Man, or possibly Elf, doing at Bag End? Lalwende is right, that is no dwarf, he's beardless and almost twice as tall as the rest. At a glance he looks very much like Aragorn/Viggo... Any speculation as to who that might be?

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Just seen it. As you may know, I am very skeptical, if not downright negative towards the movies. However, I am also very optimistic and hoping for the best even if I am prepared for the worst. So I have put away all my prejudices and started watching this completely without any presuppositions, and was looking forward to interpretate everything as positively as possible.

For those of you who liked the trailer a lot, I suggest you don't read any further and just go and enjoy the movie.

For those who continue reading: it was one of the worst things I have seen in a while.

It is still only a trailer, of course. And I am sure the agenda was to show "look, we are making a LotR prequel here" (why else to, e.g., put the Narsil scene there? Random). I can understand that and that is not what troubles me. After all, that was to be expected. But putting these things aside, I still think it does look very, very bad.

I think Mith summed up my general opinion quite well:

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

Yawwwwwwwwwwwn... apart from Galadriel sharing a tender moment with Gandalf it is same old same old....

It is a trailer, so maybe it will have different mood (like some of the "fun scenes" like the Dwarves falling through the door), but, in short:
- too much like LotR. Yes, I think it looks like it will succeed in being in line with LotR movies. If that's what they wish (I assume they do), then they seem to be managing that, but that's not The Hobbit for me.
- too "serious" - that is partially going along with the previous comment
- too much like LotR and too serious: means epic battles with Trolls, means "Gandalf walks around some place which looks like Moria", means back again the same Gollum - this is not The Hobbit for me. Where is the feeling of the merry adventure? Where is the feeling of the "this is not really such a serious business as throwing the Ring into Mount Doom"? This does not even look like Indiana Jones (to which the treasure hunting idea could possibly be compared in terms of movies), it looks even far darker and more serious than Indiana Jones, and there is certainly something wrong with that kind of approach!
All this "deep, mysterious, we are being serious here" atmosphere is too much. Thorin whispering to Gandalf in this deep and serious tone. Thorin is supposed to be annoyed. Not serious. Too wrong.
- Thorin looks like somebody who has just escaped from Game of Thrones into the wrong movie. (And I am saying that even though I have not seen GoT).
- the worst thing ever: the Dwarven singing. Or: not exactly. When all of them start to sing, it is fine (even though not the way I imagine it). But Thorin alone = reminds me of Aragorn singing in the extended LotR (and that said, I actually did almost quite like Aragorn singing that - if I convinced myself that it is NOT the song of Lúthien, since I don't most certainly imagine it that way - but here, for Dwarf? Come ON!)

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

But, but - there are no instruments at Bag End!!! I want to see fiddles and flutes and viols and clarinets and a drum and a harp!

That too. Although if I stretched my expectations for a good TH movie, I would have been able to forgive even that to PJ - but making it sound the same like (his own-made!) Dúnedain songs - why? Why??? There is no answer to that question, why should Dwarven and Númenorean songs about ancient forgotten past of their race be the same??? This is not anything against the song itself, but it is not a Dwarven song. Most certainly it is not THE Dwarven song. Sorry.

- one thing which is nice in the trailer, really beautiful: the first large scenery where the Dwarves go towards the mountains. Forest in the foreground, mountains in the background. But that was also the one thing nice about LotR. But these epic beautiful wide sceneries are not enough for a good movie. Maybe if it was a nature documentary. Or travel documentary. "Survey M-E with our 13 Dwarves and Mr. Baggins from National Geographic!" But the story needs... story. And characters. And most of all, it should have at least a bit of the Hobbit mood.

I was originally talking to Lommy when I first saw this and told her exactly these things. At one point, she mentioned something like that "surely it could have been worse". And that made me think.

No, from what I have seen this far, I don't think it could have been worse than this. I am sorry. Despite all my best hopes - my best hopes were crushed. I did not believe they will be. But they were. It's all wrong.

I am, of course, still expecting to see more. This was just one small trailer. This is by no means final judgement. But first impression - I give you F-.

[Galadriel55]

@Legate: The funny thing is, I'm usually the one ripping apart every detail I don't like in the movies. What happened to me? I stopped caring that much for some reason! Although I agree with what you said, I'm not angry enough to add more of my own. At least right now.

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

- Thorin looks like somebody who has just escaped from Game of Thrones into the wrong movie. (And I am saying that even though I have not seen GoT).

Do you have a particular GoT character in mind, or is it just the general air around Thorin?

Originally Posted by Legate

No, from what I have seen this far, I don't think it could have been worse than this.

Yes, it could have. They could have ruined the scenery and the music. Then it would be as bad as it gets.

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

There's something puzzling me though. At 0:52 there appears to be a Man in Bag Eng. It's not Gandalf, he is to the left, and I don't think it's a Dwarf sitting on a table. He has no beard and he has a tankard. Who is this?

I thought it's one of the younger beardless Dwarves.

Edit: xed since Lal's post

[HerenIstarion]

Originally Posted by Mister Underhill

My secret hope for this trailer, to say nothing of the film itself, is that it rouses a few slumbering wights and draws them from their barrows to caper on the Downs once more...

Well, your wish is granted, in my case at least - but indeed it was not the Hobbit that brought me back here at all, rather vice versa - I knew somewhere in the back of my mind it was being filmed, increased activeness on the Downs brought me to see the actual trailer

And with regards to the trailer - I haven't noticed any Smaug, is it that they didn't yet have one drawn?

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by HerenIstarion

And with regards to the trailer - I haven't noticed any Smaug, is it that they didn't yet have one drawn?

They are maximising profits by padding it out into two films. No Smaug til film2.

[Galadriel55]

I just saw this very trailer in the movie theatre, in 3D. It looks much better there than on my computer screen, that's a plus on the technical side. (The content, obviously, didn't change )