Yeah, that sounds about right. Image: Screenshot via YouTube
When Warner Bros. embarked on its journey to turn The Hobbit into a big-screen spectacle like its cousin (er, sequel, I suppose) The Lord of the Rings, there was a lot of enthusiasm in the fandom for the idea. That enthusiasm then turned into frustration, despair, and disinterest as Warner Bros. stretched out the book into not one, not two, but three padded-out movies.
Now, critic Lindsay Ellis has embarked on an epic journey of her own, to dissect the failures and follies of The Hobbit. In a series of three critical videos, Ellis runs the gamut through all three films and the morass of hubris and bad decisions that brought them together.
Ellis is one of the most clever film critics YouTube has on offer, and if you’re the sort of person who got a kick out of Red Letter Media working through the Star Wars prequels in longform video essays, this is going to be right up your alley. So pop out the lammas bread (yes, I know, wrong movies, please you don’t have to tell me) and sit down for a journey, though maybe not the long-expected journey you were imagining.
The first video of Ellis’s series is below, and you can watch the second and third parts here and here.
Comments
21 responses to “Watch This In-Depth Take On Everything Wrong With The Hobbit Movies”
“So pop out the lammas bread (yes, I know, wrong movies, please you don’t have to tell me)”
Can we tell you it’s the wrong bread?
Yup
Lammas Bread is completely inferior to Lembas.
Yup x2
I’ve been trying to find movies featuring lammas bread, and I can’t find any… 🙁
I was going to watch them while celebrating this coming Lammas Day.
Mists of Avalon?
Easily my biggest movie disappointment ever. A fine example of corporate greed ruining something that could have been a wonderful tribute to Tolkien. I’ll look forward to someone else having a crack at it in the future.
Have you seen the hobbit super cut? all three movies cut together to be in the 3-3.5 hour mark.
I thought it was good and highlights the missed opportunity the hobbit is because of the padding.
Thanks, i’ll check it out!
Same, the LoTR films are my favourite films and these hobbit films stank.
While she has a lot of good points I find its another case of an epic fanboy/girl over analysing movie versus source material, instead of perhaps just enjoying it for what it is. Kind of like those that go and watch something like Transformers, 2012, Geostorm or even Rampage and complains about the (lack of) science behind the plot or just the lack of amazingly well written Oscar worthy story…
But hey both are valid in each type of persons reality.
Nah. Her criticism is spot on. Each movie felt bloated with way too many pointless scenes and important ones that dragged on forever. They should have left it at 2 movies and with smart editing, it may have been half decent.
Except the whole point is there are plenty of scenes in these movies that add absolutely nothing to any aspect of the story. The action sequences are particularly guilty of this. There’s no threat to any of the characters, and the competence or aspects of the characters aren’t improved or furthered in any fashion. There’s literally no point to these sequences apart from “Look! Stuff happens to the dwarves and the hobbit.”
Many of the sequences in the hobbit could be cut and the story would not need to change a whit to accommodate their removal – the definition of filler content that adds nothing to the film.
Oooorrr….we can just learn that movies are a form of entertainment and you should just enjoy them without picking apart every single little minor detail you can find in them. If you enjoy a movie, good for you. If you don’t enjoy a movie, don’t watch it.
I’m sure this person is passionate about what he does but I’m not gonna sit through 3 videos that total a running time of a feature length movie just to hear them nitpick over everything they possibly can with these films. I enjoyed them for what they were.
You assume that someone will like a thing until they pick it apart, which is not really the role of a critic.
It’s quite possible to not really like a film without fully understanding the reasoning consciously. Take your example of Rampage, I found it quite dull and it didn’t really hold my attention. If I think about it I can then point out the slow structure during the first two acts, the very cheesey cliched dialogue or a handful of other “nitpicks” as the reason why I felt that.
There were a few cool action sequences in the third act, so I’d rather hope someone is nitpicking that film to them so that they can see how to make a better film next time.
But you know, if you liked it then guess what? It doesn’t matter that other people didn’t, or that they had issues. Nobody is taking those movies away from you, no reason to become defensive over someone trying to reason out why the majority of people didn’t like the continuation of a very popular series of movies.
Edit: I just realised it wasn’t you who mentioned Rampage but @andy, my apologies.
She doesn’t nitpick that much. The overarching theme of her films is how the studios altered what the end product. I think she did it in a fairly balanced way. I loved the films but I can see merit in what she says.
Then just sit through the first one. There’s enough good points in that one alone.
If you don’t enjoy a movie, don’t watch it…huh? wouldn’t you need to watch it to determine if you didn’t enjoy it?
Besides, I certainly wouldn’t trust a review from someone who hadn’t actually watched the thing they are reviewing…
I really enjoyed these films. Very much comfort viewing.
Meanwhile, The Last Jedi was enough to kill the Star Wars franchise for me.
These movies are so enjoyable to me.
Same as the Lord Of The Rings trilogy.
Extended edition for both trilogies for me 🙂
I’d highly recommend Ellis’s other recent work, particularly her look at Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and the series on film theory as it pertains to the Transformers movies. It’s good stuff.