by Summer Lane

Special coupon for Dinuba Platinum Theatre at the end of this review.

“My Dear Frodo…while I can honestly say that I have told you the truth, I may not
have told you all of it.”

Yes, it’s story time.

Bilbo Baggins, a respectable hobbit from Bag End in the Shire, doesn’t like adventures. They “make you late for dinner,” as he says. But when a nomadic wizard who we all know and love drops in with a company of dwarves on a quest to retrieve a lost treasure, Bilbo finds himself in the middle of a…well, an adventure.

How quickly Bilbo (Martin Freeman) goes from smoking his pipe, reading books and stowing away goods in his pantry to braving the wilderness of Middle Earth with Gandalf (Ian McKellan), Thorin Oakenshield (the Dwarf Heir) and the other members of the troupe. Pretty soon they’re running away from Orcs, Goblins and in Bilbo’s case, a weird looking creature that lives in a cave with a ring.

You see where this is going.

I love The Hobbit, by J.R.R Tolkien. It’s one of the most classic stories of all time. The Lord of the Rings movies were completely amazing. And how couldn’t they be, with all that sweeping landscaping, fantastic acting and beautiful music? The Hobbit film follows in those big footsteps with an epic soundtrack, a solid story and entertaining characters. The only thing that I didn’t like (and I adore everything in Middle Earth) was the sheer amount of overkill when it came to CGI. Obviously we can do a lot more with special effects today than we could when the first LOTR movies came out, but it added a cartoon-like quality to many of the characters – like the Pale Orc and the Goblins – because here you had these completely ugly, scary, animal-like creatures spending all this time talking, which made it corny. None of the Orcs or Goblins talked in the first three films, and it was considerably better that way, and they were much more intimidating as bad guys. I didn’t think the Pale Orc was a very good villain simply because he was completely CG. I remember the big Orc that Aragorn fought in The Fellowship of the Ring, and that thing was SCARY. But the Pale Orc wasn’t. He talked too much, and he was blue. I mean…come on.

In conclusion, I will pay any amount of money any day to see Ian McKellan become Gandalf the Grey, and hear Howard Shore’s awesome music move with the camera as it sweeps over the misty mountains. It’s a wonderful story, in a wonderful world, and besides a little too much CGI, it’s easily one of the best movies of the year.
Go see it, please.

Watch the trailer on the movie website. And check out our review of the book right here at KRL.

The Hobbit is currently playing at Dinuba Platinum Theatres 6. Showtimes for other shows playing in Dinuba can be found on their website.

Print this coupon and enjoy a special discount for Kings River Life readers only!

Summer Lane is a freelance writer with thousands of published articles on a variety of topics. She’s also a published novelist, publicist, book reviewer and cat lover. Her book, Snappy Social Networking, is available now! You can contact Summer for reviews or writing on her blog.