The Hobbit (1977)

How sad is this?

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Being weaned on Peter Jackson's Middle Earth makes this little TV movie seem to pale in comparison, especially when comparing the budgets. After the initial trilogy Jackson went for another by spacing out the children's novel into 3 feature length stories and therefore suffered for it. But of course you cannot back away after making the excellent LOTR and do a condensed version like this. This takes the whimsical and childlike wonder in the original novel and creates a charming Hobbit, perhaps a little lean in some parts. Still, the Hobbit trilogy had Howard Shore, and the biggest misstep seems to be the soundtrack which jumps genres and never really establishes itself. Glenn Yarbrough's songs are pleasant enough but you want mystical and ethereal cues for elves, not something that is reminiscent of a country road song, or a folk ballad. At times the orchestration is rather thin, overusing fanfares and percussion for little substance. And the Misty Mountains song cannot compare to the 2012 rendition, turning it into a short and lacklustre chant with no real melody.The animation is nice for its time. This was animated by Topcraft, which later became the bare bones of Studio Ghibli, just right before producing Nausicaa. The watercolour backgrounds are impressive and immersive, never clashing with the figures. The character designs cannot reach the details of a live action big budget attempt, but they are unique in their own cartoonish ways. Smaug is especially menacing with the floodlight beams that emit from his eyes and the hurricanes that his wings conjure. The wide eyed Bilbo Baggins with his overly large pupils seem to say with every look: "Oh how I wish I was at home in my nice hole by the fire, with the kettle just beginning to sing!" But he is brave when he needs to sneak into a treasure trove, witty when confronting Gollum in a battle of riddles, and reasonable when talking of war. Speaking of Gollum, he is slimy as he can be; it is not quite Andy Serkis, but he makes you shiver in disgust the same way. This version is perhaps a little short at 77 minutes, and the Hobbit trilogy at a combined 474 minutes, much too long. Here some details are cut; Beorn and his nightime stroll is missing, which is disappointing. Climatic battles are also barely featured: the escape from the giant spiders is over with a dizzying spin, and Bilbo is knocked out just before the Battle of the Five Armies. It all ends a little suddenly, but it does set up the Lord of the Rings and that 1978 animation which is a little more mature and in- depth. But for an accompaniment to a fantasy novel that should be one every child's reading list, this is quite good.

I tried watching this movie twice in my life: once when I was ten, and once a week ago, neither times of which I understood the plot or characters of either. So, I read the book to see if it could shed some light on the storyline, but the book turned out to be an incredibly nerdy, dungeons and dragons-esque type of story, similar to this movie. The animation is what some reviewers complain about, but for me the animation wasn't bad at all (I've seen WAY worse animation than in this movie). The voice acting isn't bad. My problem is just that I've never really been a big fan of these geeky middle ages style fiction, or The Lord of the Rings stuff, it just doesn't appeal to me; I've never really understood it. I think I'll stick with watching The X-Files because I don't think The Hobbit is for everyone.

great film good for birds i recommend to parakeets and noisy sprites everywhere. i watched it with my bird and he loved every second, except for eating birdseed and the occasional hobbit foot. my other bird gangwifre who is a retarded horned owl, and these two pigeons that just flew through the window like whoa what. they all loved it but the pigeons shat on my floor god dammit. overall 10/10 recommend to birds great film good for birds i recommend to parakeets and noisy sprites everywhere. i watched it with my bird and he loved every second, except for eating birdseed and the occasional hobbit foot. my other bird gangwifre who is a retarded horned owl, and these two pigeons that just flew through the window like whoa what. they all loved it but the pigeons shat on my floor god dammit. overall 10/10 recommend to birds

I seem to keep on forgetting that this little movie exists, but it does (I've seen it twice now). Look, it is probably not the best rendition of the Hobbit, but then again it not only is animate, but it is using 1970s animation technology. We must remember that back then they did not have special effects, and a lot of movies were shot using blue screens and models. These days they simply hire computer programmers and graphic designers, which ends up being a lot cheaper.There really isn't much to say about this animate feature in and of itself. The drawings and animation are not the best, but the voices seem to work okay, though I thought Bilbo looked a little dorky. Most of the story is present, though unlike the Peter Jackson version of the Hobbit that is due to be released soon, there is not focus on the back story. Basically what we have in the book we have in this feature, and nothing more. This means that we do not know where Gandalf goes off to when he is not accompanying the group.The basic story is simple, Bilbo is relaxing in his house when Gandalf appears and tells him that he is going to have some guests. Sure enough, a bunch of dwarfs rock up and begin having a party. Gandalf then tells Biblo (he doesn't have a choice in the matter) that they need a robber (or a professional treasure finder, as Bilbo calls himself) and that Bilbo has been chosen. Then off they go on a long journey across Middle Earth to the Lonely Mountain to kill a dragon, claim the treasure, and restore Thorin Oakenshield to his throne. On the way they are captured by Trolls, Goblins, Elves, and Spiders, and once all is said and done, they suddenly discover that they are in the middle of a massive battle between five armies, who are all wanting a piece of Lonely Mountain.What I discovered from this film was basically how whimpy the dwarfs were. Okay, my thoughts on dwarfs are clouded by the Dungeons and Dragons position, however I would have expected the dwarfs in Middle Earth to be a lot tougher than this lot. If we take into account all the times that they were captured, not once did they actually go out and fight, and if it was not Gandalf rescuing them, it was Bilbo. Even when the go to confront the dragon Smaug, it is Bilbo who sneaks into the mountain, and it is a human from Lake Town that fires the killing blow. The only time the dwarfs actually get involve in a battle is right at the end, and even then half of them are killed.This is not really a criticism of the film, but rather of the book, though we need to remember that The Hobbit was the pre-cursor to Lord of the Rings, the book that pretty much set the standard for all fantasy fiction to come, though being the precursor, The Hobbit is truly the first of the modern fantasy fiction. It is clear that Bilbo is the hero, and that Gandalf is some sort of guardian angel, but I am still, to an extent, a little baffled as to who the dwarfs are. Only a few of the dwarfs actually have major roles, the rest of them seem to just tag along for the ride. As I said, none of them actually get into a fight until the end. However, I do not think this is allegorical, since Tolkein pretty much hated the concept.The book does set the scene for the Lord of the Rings, though once again only in a minor way. Pretty much everything that we need to know about the world of Middle Earth is in the Lord of the Rings, and aspects such as Gollum and the ring, are also more fully explained there as well. All we know about Gollum here is that his is some ugly creature lurking deep in the Misty Mountains, crying over his lost precious. In a way, the riddle scene in the book where Bilbo and Gollum face off each other in a challenge of wits is the most famous scene in the book, but we know nothing about the ring until Lord of the Rings, when Gandalf returns to The Shire, has a look at the ring, and discovers that it is indeed the one ring. All it is here is a magical trinket, however the hold that it has over Gollum should give us some clues that there is simply something not right with it.