The Hobbit

I was really glad I had an excuse to reread "The Hobbit" this week as it is one of my favorite books. After reading the book I watched both movies that have been released and I got to say, I really like the direction Peter Jackson has gone with the movies. I view the Hobbit as a children's book, so the whimsical feel of the movies fits like a glove. In the second movie as the dwarves and Bilbo escape from the elvish Palace there is a sequence where bomber the dwarf wipes out a battalion of orcs while rolling in a barrel. To me this was exactly how I imagined the tone of the Hobbit, and also served as great contrast to the giant Smaug later in the movie.

Another part I really liked about the movie was how seamlessly it related back to the movies already made. This is how imagined Tolkien tried to relate things back as, if I'm not mistaken, he wrote the Hobbit after completing the Lord of the Rings trilogy. At one point during the second movie Legolas comments on a picture of Gimley that his father Gloin was carrying. This is funny for fans because in Lord of the Rings Gimley and Legolas become instrumental in the destruction of the One Ring. Although Legolas wasn't ever part of the books, this change isn't completely out of the air as he was a wood elf and could have in theory been there.

Overall my favorite part of the books and movies is the Goblin King sequence. Everybody loves a good chase scene and this one was done incredibly well. Not only was the action good in the movie, but in the book this is when Bilbo discovers / steals the one ring from Gollum. Tolkien really draws out the Riddles in the Dark chapter for a really tense atmosphere.

Overall, this has been my favorite week so far — can never have too much Tolkien.