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THE 2-D BLURAY DISC
I'd award two extra stars if I could for the Bluray disc (which probably applies to the DVD too) because the movie LOADS QUICKLY and PLAYS QUICKLY. A animated loading symbol is shown for the 10 or 20 seconds it takes to load. Then quick flash of the Warner Brother's screen and you are at the main menu. Press "play", two anti-piracy screens appear for a few seconds each, and the movie begins. That's all. THREE CHEERS FOR WARNER BROTHERS!!!!
In contrast, Sony's "Men in Black 3" (by no means the most annoying Bluray I've purchased lately) takes forever to load, leaving you with a blank black screen while loading, then several "previews" of other movies you have to fast-forward through (because the "disc menu" button is disabled), then 4 (FOUR!!!!) long antipiracy screens, then a long general disclaimer screen, then a disclaimer screen regarding internet features. All Sony disc are like this. Many other Blurays and movie companies/distributors are worse, I've had to fast forward through seemingly a dozen "previews" on other discs each; others have opening screen after screen of distributors, producers, and contributors (such as THX for the sound processing). Many anti-piracy screens seem to hold for 30 seconds or so. On one disc, I had to choose "Language" before I could get to the menu. Why do we tolerate this crap?? Because we have no choice.
THE HOBBIT MOVIE
THE BAD
> The good news is that surely there will be no "extended edition" to buy in a few years. In fact, I'm kinda hoping for a "condensed" edition. The movie is just too long with too many exaggerated chase scenes. There is just so much adrenaline the body can absorb---I've already crashed by the time the movie is at the 2/3rds point.
> I was particularly annoyed by the grossly overlong, cartoonish chase scenes in the orc cave, which must have been 10,000s of hours of CGI at a cost of $10s millions of dollars. About 1/4 the length would have been fine.
THE GOOD
> The Bluray is absolutely stunning--razor sharp. The cinemaphotography is superb. The CGI seemless.
> The introduction, with the "Lord of the Rings" Bilbo and Frodo is a stroke of genius.
> The trolls sequence reminded me of ny High School years, long long ago. Actually, the dwarves and orcs were a bit unpleasantly "familiar".
> The actor playing (young) Bilbo is terrific.
> Although I'd have prefered a version truer to the book, most of the additions are from the unreadable "Silmarillion" and other Tolkien material, and make the story more consistent as a prequel to "Lord of the Rings". I suspect that if Tolkien himself had had a chance to re-write the Hobbit, he would have done something similar.
EVALUATION
Like many reviewers, if I were in control, the movie would have followed the book more closely, would have been better paced, and would have been more adult. BUT it is what it is, and what it is is MAGNIFICIENT.
3D?
Why not? If it's only a few bucks more and comes with the 2D Bluray. No doubt the 3D version is spectacular. But I didn't consider the 3D. As it happens I have a $5000 state-of-the-art 3D capable system, but every 3D movie I've seen (including Avitar) gives me a migraine headache within 20 minutes. The fact is, regardless of the claims of producers who've dumped $10s of millions into developing 3D cameras and technology, 3D movies simply are not filmed the way the human eye sees and interprets 3D. If you see 3D, your mind assumes that you can selectively focus on any part of the scene you want, say on the background, even if the action is in the foreground---but you actually can't---because the background is intentionally out-of-focus, so you brain is in constant conflict with your eyes, telling your eyes to focus on things that it can't. If you veiw an image that is only 2D (as in a photograph or an ordinary 2D movie) your mind takes 3D cues from sharpness of focus, proportions, etc. and "reads" 3D into 2D images, without any eyestrain. A real 3D experience would require the entire image (foreground, subject, and background) to be in perfect sharp focus. But if a movie was shot that way (with no selective focus), it would look completely flat in 2D. Note that the few successful 3D movies out there are either "landscape shots" where everything is in focus, or fast action, where you are so busy following the subject (which is in focus), that your mind doesn't have a chance to be confused by out-of-focus elements. The Hobbit is a mixture of landscapes and fast action, so it probably works better in 3D than most movies.
> Click on “Stoney” just below the product title to see my other reviews, or leave a comment to ask a question.
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