The Hobbit: A Review of Stupid Complaints

As you all know, the internet is over run with basically the same complaints about the Hobbit movie. Everywhere I turn, I hear yet another person complaining about the same things as everyone else, saying how much they hate Peter Jackson’s interpretation of the Hobbit.

Seriously, guys? Seriously?

I understand the Hobbit was meant to be a children’s story, but that doesn’t mean we should act like children.

Let’s start with the obvious complaint. Tauriel.

Obviously, Tauriel is a no go, due to the fact that she doesn’t even exist in Tolkien’s world. Yes. I get it. You don’t approve of Tauriel. What’s really sad about our reaction to that is: Evangeline Lily probably doesn’t even know, let alone care. I’m sure she feels a little bad about changing the story, but she’ll get over it, I say we should too.

What makes sense to me about this character is the strong female aspect. Guillermo del Toro, who invented Tauriel, wanted a female role like Eowyn or Arwen (obviously he didn’t want them to be the same, he just wanted the female that makes a story stronger).

Part of the Tauriel problem was the Kili-Tauriel love interest.

Honestly, this is probably our fault.

When you take a look at the most popular movies, you can see the aspects that our society has created into essential components of a story. Things like violence, love interests, comedy, and so on. This is what directors and screen writers use to influence their interpretations. A love interest was just something they thought the movie needed in order to provoke certain emotions.

I really didn’t mind the idea of a love interest, my only problem was the length of time they had for it to grow. That’s just it, though, there wasn’t enough time. It was like a love at first sight thing, which doesn’t quite work in the world of Tolkien. If they had made it a growing relationship where they get to see more of what the other is like and slowly grow to love each other. This was accomplished remarkably well in the book of the Lord of the Rings with Eowyn and Faramir.

Next is accuracy…

We all have to let it go and admit that we know it is pretty much IMPOSSIBLE for a movie to be completely accurate to a book. And even if it was, IT WOULD BE INCREDIBLY BORING!!! And I’m not saying that to insult the books in ANY way, it is simply that a movie and a book have so many different aspects that require certain amounts of attention different to the other.

I would like to say, I am completely okay with the added stuff. Obviously not all of it, but most of it actually did happen, just not in the Hobbit book specifically. Like I’ve said before, a Lord of the Rings Appendix movie is completely unrealistic. So putting that information in the Hobbit movie makes complete sense. And who are we to say if Tolkien would have been okay with the changes? There are many movies with so many changes that the authors personally approved, (for example, the Giver, Harry Potter, etc.)

Let’s move on to the mentioning of Aragorn (indirectly…).

Let me first say, at that point in time, Aragorn would have been twenty-seven. In Lord of the Rings, in an extended scene, Aragorn tells Eowyn that he is eighty-seven. The Hobbit being sixty years prior to this makes him twenty-seven.

So, it makes sense why Peter Jackson would mention him. He wanted there to be strong connections to all the Middle Earth movies. I actually like hearing the references that only a few might understand. It makes me feel smart. So I am totally okay with it.

I would first like to state the one big complaint nearly everyone has made.

The Hobbit was made simply for milking money.

This is simply not true. At least, not for Peter Jackson. Jackson always loved the Tolkien universe, he wouldn’t just change his mind and decide to give up on the relaying of a wonderful tale. Yes, he wasn’t planning on making the films, but that just makes the movies more impressive. Almost two years of work done by Guillermo del Toro was redone and reimagined, meaning that two years they could have used making costumes and such was wasted.

And now I bring you to one of the BIGGEST, most mentioned problem with these movies.

Alfrid.

Yes, I hate him too.

Yes, I do understand why it was added.

As we learn from Shakespeare, you can’t create just a huge, serious, and heavy story without anything to bring joy. There needs to be a comic relief. Alfrid was Jackson’s failed attempt. Alfrid was just a tedious character that constantly abused those around him. That is simply stupid in my opinion. And yet again, like I will always say when talking about Tolkien related stories, there is possible symbolism behind this character.

He is a disgusting, rude, insensitive character. He could be representing the aspects of human nature that no one wants to admit is there. Humans are not perfect. We all make mistakes, we all have temptations inside us. Alfrid is an example of what we become when we fall to the things of the world. We hate him, and we are supposed to. He is the person we don’t want to be. That is the point.

The one complaint that I almost 100% agree with.

CGI.

There was definitely too much! CGI orcs, trolls, battle sequences, PEOPLE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! Dain did NOT need to be animated! Again, this could have been due to the limited amount of time they ended up with, but still. I watched that whole movie without much of a feeling of reality. In Lord of the Rings, it is so real. So scary and thought provoking. I could watch it and feel as if I were there. This was not so in the Hobbit. They should have only animated what things were completely necessary, like trolls.

And with many complaints still untouched, I will leave you with what ones I did touch on. I’m not saying your complaints are irrelevant or entirely wrong, I simply feel that we should not complain. It does no good. It only ruins other people’s chances to decide for themselves if it is good. Stopping them from seeing it, doesn’t really affect Peter Jackson, it only affects the person you stop. What if they had liked it? You just robbed them of that choice.

Just take a deep breath, calm down, and consider the reasons. Do your research before you start pointlessly shouting at a man who will never hear you. Jackson has better things to do with his time. Don’t waste your time.