Hobbitses

Unlike most people who call themselves Geeks, I have never read the Hobbit. I only read Lord of the Rings right before the movies came out. And then only because the chick I was dating loved them (we’re married now so it worked out).  While the story was good, I’m really not a fan of Tolkien’s writing style. The Hobbit is supposedly a much easier read but I never bothered to give it a try.

With the new movie coming out today, I’m considering it. Though, I understand it’s a very short book. And somehow its getting turned into three movies. So there might be less correlation between movie and book than there was in LOTR.

Now, I know that’s because Peter Jackson is including material from Tolkien’s other work like the Silmarilion, which I hear is an even dense read then LOTR. I have no doubt it will be a well crafted and visually stunning movie.  But will it take what’s supposed to be a quick, fun adventure and make it as much of a slog as the LOTR movies?

They were also very good but you really need to devote some time to them. They’re so long. And feel long. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. The last time  we watched them, we were reorganizing our file cabinet at the time, which we hadn’t done in years, and we finished that before the first movie ended.