Okay, let’s start by saying I am a huge fan of the Lord of the Rings films. I love them to death, pretty much to the point of obsession. When I heard that Peter Jackson was returning to Middle Earth with The Hobbit, I was ecstatic. When I heard it was going to be another trilogy, I was over the top. Then I saw the first trailer. And I didn’t flip out. I don’t know why, but something looks off. I have now seen about three trailers for the first film and something is definitely off. Something is too clean, too polished. The dwarves look like guys in costume, I am not sold on the world of Middle Earth like I was with the first three films. It really is hard to pin down why. There was an incredible amount of authenticity to the first films, everything looked like it was actually old, worn, ancient. But everything in the trailer for The Hobbit looks like a movie. A friend of mine, when he saw the poster to the left here, commented that he thought it looked like a poster for a Muppet movie, and I totally agree, for some reason I am not buying into it yet.
I know Jackson filmed the movie with a new frame rate that there is a lot of controversy about, and I don’t know if that could possibly affect the way the trailer looks, but something is amiss in the world of The Hobbit. I am hoping it is nothing and that once I see the film, I will once again be transported to the world that I have come to love so much. I want it to be what it is meant to be, another visit to the worlds of Middle Earth that Jackson so expertly brought to life with the first trilogy. What do you all think, am I crazy or have you noticed it too?