The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

The first time I saw a version of The Hobbit I think I was in sixth grade and we watched the animated version in school. It was supremely boring and I wanted to fall asleep.

I didn't read the book until I was perhaps sixteen, maybe seventeen. I read it out of obligation, to be honest. It was one of those "should read" books, like a Dostoevsky. (Sorry to all you D fans.) I remember trying to figure out the "teeth" riddle as I read it before I read ahead, and I'm sorry to say that riddles are just not a strength of mine and I would have had a gleeful song sung over me by Gollum and been eaten up if it had been me in Bilbo's place.

The Unexpected Journey portion came out at Christmas, but I didn't have time to see it then. I wanted to see it later, but never got around to it until March. I went to see it with a friend in a very odd setting...an observatory IMAX. So the screen, though huge, was curved at weird angles and half the time I felt like I was floating. The other half, my eyes were trying too hard to focus and nearly made me sick.

I was thinking of the movie for days after:
* The dwarves theme song, which we are introduced to in Bag End, when they have solemned out after their food binge, particularly hung with me. The dark, sad, deep humming haunted me. It made me think of days when everybody knew the same songs and sang together, spontaneously. Nobody needed to cajole or beg or play modest or make excuses of "I can't sing." Everybody just did it; it was part of life; a way of entertainment, of building community;
* the goblin king looked a little too much like Jabba the Hutt for my realistic capabilities;
* the dark orc and the light orc sounded exactly alike, and how cheesy they made him (Azog) look;
* the "thunder fight" in the mountain pass;
* the white warg, and Elvish blades;
* the humor with which they did some scenes, particularly the 'play' between Smeagol and Gollum, and how well Bilbo handled the situation;
* how mad I was that they made Radagast the Brown look like an idiot; it was like they were trying to copy Jar Jar Binks or something. Utterly ridiculous;
* and wrinkles on immortal elves. To their credit, the actors aged well, but ten years weighs on anyone and it just wasn't the same; and
* Richard Armitage could probably even rock a real Dwarf beard. Of this, I am convinced. (See CCC post.)

I watched it again tonight. It seemed darker, and the humor more bleak than I remembered. Perhaps it was my underlying mood; perhaps I was just more enthralled the first time. ('Twould be unsurprising if that was the case.)

I got the movie from Redbox. My first ever. It made me think of Two Ace. :)

It's time for bed. Past time. But I just had to say that the world Tolkien created has taken me on an unexpected journey. I learned more about myself from reading the quad than I have from almost any other book...it was a felicitous combination of being in the right place, the right time, and the right frame of mind when I read them for maximum positive impact. I'll always be grateful I read it, and  look forward to the next part of the now-expected journey.