you're getting to be a hobbit ...

Peter Jackson just can't help himself, I guess.

I finally watched the first installment of The Hobbit. I didn't watch it in the movie theater when it first came out. I was under protest. I couldn't understand why a single book, especially one that was not as epic as The Lord of the Rings trilogy, would have to be divided into three films. After viewing The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey I still don't. The landscape in New Zealand is gorgeous, and there are certainly a lot of overhead shots of Bilbo Baggins and his companions running to and fro across the hillsides ... Sorry, I drifted off there for a moment.

Everyone in The Hobbit is always running

Martin Freeman was fine as Bilbo, and it's always great to see Ian McKellan as Gandalf, but the movie had no real oomph. The dwarves, led by Thorin (Richard Armitage) want to get back into their homeland, from which they were ejected. The Orcs are still ugly. Ugly is bad. Why the Orcs are fighting the dwarves or just about anyone is unclear. Why are there no females of any account in Middle Earth, except for Galadriel, who seems to enjoy mind-flirting with Gandalf? Why ask why?

The only thing that might get me into the theater for the second installment is that it seems elf-centered, and I've always liked Legolas (Orlando Bloom). Plus, Benedict Cumberbatch. But seriously, Peter Jackson. Do you have any other interests besides Tolkien you'd like to share?

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