"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" Forecast, Fears and Hopes

“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” is set to release December 14^th, 2012, and will be the first of two installments. For any Tolkien fan, this is the highlight of the coming year (or… at least for me). After a bit of research and angry/excited ranting, I’ve compiled a nice list of my hopes and fears for the film. As the trailer and some photos have been released, there isn’t much to go on at this point.

Anyone who’s seen Peter Jackson’s trilogy of “The Lord of the Rings” films and has also read the books probably came off relatively pleased. There is a strong stereotype that when books get turned into movies… they suck. Thankfully, so far the Tolkien transition has not greatly disappointed most. Besides some expected changes and rearranged segments (happy 33^rd birthday Frodo… oh, we’re not doing that?), I was okay with the previous films.

Staying True to Text

Some characters got manipulated and softened in the trilogy, like Sam, Merry and Pippin. Whole forests were skipped… well, whole sections and chapter pieces. That happens, changes happen with different visions, but the overall message stayed the same. There are things I would have done differently, things I would have gladly agreed to change a bit for the sake of a film, but the result was I’d rather have the movies then not.

Casting

That is my general hope for The Hobbit. The casting has been done moderately well. The appearances and costuming of all the dwarves do not appeal to me particularly yet (especially Balin and Thorin), but that is no matter if the script and acting are well done. Martin Freeman has been cast as Bilbo Baggins. He is a great choice, and shows acting credulity on “Sherlock”. Although I have yet to see him play the role, I have high hopes.

As well for casting, I am fearful. There are clearly people cast who were not written into The Hobbit. It is true, connecting it to the other three movies can reap great benefits for avid viewers, but my fear is that the focus will fall from the story at hand and into outside character relations. On the other hand, I am eagerly anticipating Mikael Persbrandt as Beorn. That is probably my greatest expectation for the entire film!

Necromancer

Plot-wise, I wonder what they will do with Gandalf, Saruman and the wizards when they deal with the necromancer. As it is not thoroughly covered in the book, I wonder if the movie will glide over it or focus on it. Either could have positive or negative consequences. Looking at the casting, it does appear there will be some showing of it… but how, I am unsure.

The Dwarves

Another major fear is that they will misrepresent the dwarves in The Hobbit as the hobbits were misrepresented in the trilogy films. The hobbits were oddly dumbed-down, and although the dwarves do not all start out as the cleverest of characters, I fear that certain characters will be basically thrown away for the ease of the audience. In fact, I am fairly sure this will happen. I foresee a focus on Thorin, of course, Balin, Bombur for humor, and maybe Fili and Kili. While I understand there is only so much a movie can expect from an audience, I still want to see at least the overall mood and irritability of the dwarves correctly represented.

A Bridge?

Seeing as Elijah Wood is cast as Frodo, there will most likely be a type of bridge. The question is, who else will be coming back for this, and what will it entail? A good number of elves are also recast, though I assume this will focus more on the dwarves, Gandalf and Bilbo in Rivendell.

Overall, I am very excited and give a fairly good forecast for the movies. If this does nothing else, it will promote more people to read some Tolkien!