Peter Jackson is making some big business with some little hobbits.
In the first of a three-part movie series, Jackson has again returned to J.R.R. Tolkien’s world of Middle Earth to bring life to “The Hobbit.”
However, the question most people are asking is how did Jackson make a 320-page children’s book three movies long?
In addition to the original story line, Jackson has added smaller side-plots as well as material from Tolkien’s other works “The Silmarillion,” “Unfinished Tales,” and pieces from the appendices in “The Return of the King.”
In the first part of the movie series, “An Unexpected Journey,” the lovable hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, is asked by the wizard Gandalf to take part in a journey with a band of dwarves. Bilbo is to leave his cozy hobbit hole to help them regain their home from the dragon named Smaug.
Much of the goings on, from dialogue to small descriptions, are taken directly from the book despite the added material. It is, I believe, the only benefit to the length of the three-hour film.
It also enables Jackson to take the smaller things that Tolkien mentions in the book and make them into beautifully crafted, CGI-enhanced scenes.
In order to help with the pacing of the movie, Jackson added a band of orcs that chase Gandalf, Bilbo, and the dwarves throughout the story.
The added pieces from Tolkien’s other works help to better connect the story of “The Hobbit” to the “Lord of the Rings” series. However, this is a connection the books were never intended to have.
Overall, the film is a good adaptation of the book that leaves the viewer waiting for the next part in the series.
For the hardcore fans, though, it is the embodiment of the thought that some Tolkien is better than none at all.
Photos courtesy of Wikipedia and IMDB
People: J. R. R. Tolkien, Peter Jackson
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