I'm a little late to the party on this one -- the internet crack known as Werewolf is time- and mind-consuming -- so this may be a little scattershot:
alatar, that note about Gandalf and the "haven't aged a day" line and the kids -- now that's some close watching. I like to think I'm pretty detail-oriented, but that's one that never occurred to me. I think you might even be able to write it off a bit -- at 111, even a few years ought to make a difference. It's like Gandalf keeps waiting for Bilbo to "hit the wall", but he never does.
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Originally Posted by SPM
But it seems to me to be a place that many in today's audiences will find difficult to identify with.
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Hunh. I don't understand you on this one,
Sauce. Pesky relatives, good friends, eating, drinking, smoking, dancing, a little bit of honest work -- I think Jackson does a fine job of establishing the Shire as an idyllic and relatively easily identifiable place. I think a lot of people have a "quiet country life" fantasy that is more or less perfectly embodied here. I've never bought into the thesis that English readers have a stronger identification with the Shire than any other readers anyway.
I can find little to fault in this sequence, especially as pertains Gandalf and Bilbo. I couldn't disagree more -- with all due respect -- with
Mithalwen's comments about McKellan. I bought into his Gandalf instantly, and I love his performance throughout this sequence -- his gentle good humor, his sincere affection for the hobbits and especially for Bilbo, and most of all his growing disquiet about Bilbo's ring, which is all played in reaction shots to various foreboding signs and hints in dialogue. If only such a deft and subtle performance could have been had from Woods later in the trilogy. I've always thought that if the trilogy deserved an acting Oscar, it should have gone to McKellan for his performance in FotR, which has all the best Gandalf scenes for my money. I wonder if Gandalf ever regretted having to come back just because "Fly, you fools!" are such perfect last words. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
The scenes between McKellan and Holme are pitch-perfect for the most part. The effects, both practical and computer-generated, are extremely successful, and though you can spot flaws now that you know the secrets of the magic trick, I don't think I ever questioned the visual reality of Bilbo as hobbit-sized and Gandalf as one of the Big People.
There are several points in the sequence that never fail to give me chills ("In fact I mean not to.") or raise a little mist ("All your long years, we've been friends. Trust me now, as you once did."). Holme does a good job swinging back and forth between comical eccentricity and Ring-obsession. Somebody mentioned they didn't like Holme's Polonius in
Hamlet, but I thought he was very good because he has a talent for handling those transitions between comedy and drama. I love the scene in Bag End in which Bilbo finally gives up the Ring because it's so close to the book.
Jackson previews the sensibility that will put his personal stamp on the adaptations with several broad slapstick touches -- the much-mentioned ear-wax, and the introduction of Merry and Pippin, among others. What can I say? I like slapstick as much as anybody, but I wish Jackson's instinct for it had been more restrained for the trilogy.
One thing that doesn't grate too strongly here, but that I think I didn't love as the trilogy progressed, is the subtle shift in dynamics achieved by having such a youthful Frodo matched up with an older Sam. I'm not even sure offhand what the age difference is supposed to be in the books, but when I read them I get a much stronger sense of Frodo as the oldest of the four hobbits, whereas here he comes across clearly to me as the youngest -- and throughout the films I think an older brothers/baby brother type dynamic develops between the actors, if not the characters, slightly altering their relationships.
Out of all the characters, Astin's Samwise is the farthest from my own mental picture. I don't recollect the true details of book Sam offhand, but my Sam has very dark hair, maybe receding a bit, is probably the slimmest rather than the fattest of the hobbits, and I think has a mustache -- don't ask me why. I don't like how Astin plays him more simpleton than just simple in these early scenes, though his performance grows on me later.
Bag End is a fantastic piece of art design. All that clutter -- it's just how Bag End should look.
Overall, I think the sequence does a good job of establishing the Shire and the feeling of hobbit society and has many nice touches for Tolkien fans. But I can see why more casual moviegoers might get a little restless -- this scene is mostly just more exposition, and after the prologue the audience already knows how deadly dangerous the Ring is and has to wait for the characters to catch up.