The Hobbit and the Five Armies

When I was in sixth grade we were given the Hobbit as assigned reading. Now, it is a simple law of nature that even if the book you have to read is something you would like to read in your own time, the fact that it is an assignment practically forces the reader to detest it. I was the only one that actually read the book all the way through instead of relying on spark notes or hoping the person sitting next to me knew the answers to the chapter quiz.

So I really liked the Hobbit and am in the midst of reading The Lord of the Rings trilogy since I got the box set for Christmas. I was apprehensive about seeing the Hobbit movies because although directors have good intensions when changing things to "make the story better" the fans of the book are there to see a movie about the book, not something vaguely based on it. I am still bitter about the Percy Jackson 'movies'. Anyways, I watched the first movie when I was sick and I do not remember much of it, but I felt like it stayed true to the story.

My copies of LOTR and the Hobbit

Besides the dwarf love and general orc shenanigans that went down in the second movie, it was also fairly in sync with the book throughout it. However, leaving three of the dwarves in lake town did not seem like something that the other questants would have done and it was not canonical, but I can live with that. The final movie showed more of the battle than the book, since it was from Bilbos perspective and he was knocked out pretty early in the fight. Then again just leaving out an epic battle for control of a mountain full of gold would have felt sort of cheap and removed the need for a third movie.

 I was sad when Kili and Fili died, but mostly because a twin or both of them always seem to get killed in movies (Avengers) and books(Sea of Shadows). As a twin, I take offense. Plus they seem like pretty good guys. Yes, Kili's romance was heartbreaking and sweet, but that was not all that big of a reason to why his character was appealing to me. Maybe it is a twin thing, but I feel really sad when a fictional twin dies.

It also felt overly heavy-handed when they referenced the Lord of the Rings. There were some scenes that someone would be really confused about if they did not have previous knowledge of the other movies or books. Overall it was one of the better movie adaptations tha
t I have seen, and to be fair I am being rather knit picky when it comes to this sort of thing. I would highly recommend this for anyone who wants a good fantasy movie to watch or story to read and any Tolkienies (that's probably wrong) that are apprehensive about the movies, they are not perfect but they are certainly worth watching.