LotR1-FotR-Seq02

[Boromir88]

Wasn't Frodo 33? And also thought that he was a more 'elvish' kind of hobbit, meaning that he was a bit more fair etc. And in the movie I can't remember Frodo ever puffing away, and at least initially he seems to be a lad at ease - you may have to look hard to find some calluses on those hands - and so he may appear young for his age.

Oh yeah, during Bilbo's party he was 33, I was thinking he was 50, but this isn't til he leaves of course.

[Lathriel]

I love this sequence since it is really the calm before the storm.
I don't mind the earwax thing. I know it is silly but after this sequence it gets so serious that a little bt of silliness really doesn't do any harm.
I really like the quote, "there has always been a Baggins at Bag end..." The part that says that there always will be doesn't bother me because how could Bilbo know that his ring would cause so much trouble.
At first I didn't like the way Merry and Pippin were introduced, didn't Gandalf light all the fireworks? But after seeing the movie several times I got used to it. One of the things I immediatly noticed as well was that Merry's intelligence was brought down a bit in these scenes. Luckily he does slowly get up to his book counterpart later in the movie.
Well its late so I'll write more later.

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by radagastly

Actually, I believe one of them said in the commentaries that they were aware of each other's work, but had never had the opportunity to work together before "Lord of the Rings."

Yes! I caught that late last night - decided to watch the cast commentary track before getting into bed. It's actually quite unusual for two British actors of that calibre not to have worked together for that long so I was surprised.

Another reason that Ian Holm was excellent as Bilbo is that he captured that nervousness which I see as part of Bilbo's personality. At the beginning of The Hobbit, he is one of those 'terribly polite Englishmen', not exactly a stereotype, but a familiar kind of figure. He does not wish to offend the dwarves by refusing them his cakes but he gives his treats away all the same, not wishing to appear rude. Bilbo still has this quality, with a bit more confidence, at the begining of LotR and I found Ian Holm captured this really well.

Did anyone else think there may be something significant in the fact that while Bilbo blew a smoke ring, Gandalf blew a smoke ship and sailed it through the ring?

[alatar]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

Did anyone else think there may be something significant in the fact that while Bilbo blew a smoke ring, Gandalf blew a smoke ship and sailed it through the ring?

Don't have my books, and so must rely on others, but wasn't that straight from the text? If so, and I think that it is, then this is another gem added by PJ for us. Think about it. Assume that you've never read the books. What does it matter then what shape Gandalf blows smoke into?

What will become apparent as the trilogy progresses is that these gems become more rare. Is that because PJ felt that he had to get this movie right, for both fans and non-fans, in order to acquire more capital that would buy him a freer hand in the following movies?