Great Expectations (and rollercoasters)

[Morthoron]

I'll be honest with you, I am not going to rush out and see it. I may not go to see The Hobbit at all. There are too may additions already that are disheartening. If you look at all the information released in total thus far, what was a simple, linear comedic epic is turning into an over-the-top fan-fiction nightmare. And PJ lacks subtlety in any of his productions.

I am reminded of the new release of The Three Musketeers debacle or Sherlock Holmes, where the original stories (which were great enough to last a century or more) are overlayed with so much graphical nonsense and contrived 3-D flummery, that the heart is ripped out of the tale, and full-bodied characterization is buried under mountains of eye-candy.

Heart and wit and clever storytelling (with subtle insinuations of a grander world beyond) are what made The Hobbit a classic. Not shield-surfing elves, warrior princesses, punk-goth dwarves, or an entirely separate fan-fic storyline (and I say fan-fiction with conviction because the White Council amounted to a paragraph or two mention by Tolkien) grafted awkwardly onto The Hobbit plot just so they can drag the thing on for two movies.