We were lucky enough to be introduced to the main Hobbit cast in full in the very first teaser trailer, but with the new trailer came a few extra scenes with our beloved Bilbo and Gandalf, as well as the dwarves that will be accompanying them on their journey.
The Cast
Martin Freeman
Yes well, he obviously deserved his own category. He certainly had big hairy Hobbit feet to fill after following Ian Holm, and he still managed to meet and completely surpass our expectations. The success of The Hobbit franchise is really going to rest on Freeman’s shoulders.
Unlike in The Lord of the Rings, where the audience had an entire fellowship to pick and choose from, The Hobbit is absolutely Bilbo’s story – everyone else is just secondary. Yes, even Gandalf, and even Thorin, despite their voice-overs.
The newest trailer doesn’t disappoint. We finally get to see more of Bilbo than him blowing smoke rings and looking worried. With every new scene, our belief in Freeman grows – particularly the glimpse we had at the wonderful troll scene, and of course his interaction with Gollum. Freeman looks completely at home in the role, and we find him absolutely convincing as our young, reluctant Bilbo.
The Dwarves
Oh dear. Well, we understand that Jackson had to go to some lengths and make sure that each dwarf was easy to differentiate. We have the fat one, the one that looks like Santa, etc., but did we miss the part when dwarves became hipsters, and decided to sport ridiculous little goatees like the one on Thorin (Richard Armitage)?
The dwarves are an element that can make or break this film, nothing else is really concerning at the moment. It might end up being like 13 Gimlis, all competing at comedy hour. Jackson has mentioned that The Hobbit will see some fundamental differences from Lord of the Rings, but we’re hoping at this point that the dwarves become something more than just (“Look at the little fat one eat! It’s funny because he’s fat!”) comedic relief.
From the newest trailer we can see Jackson attempting to inject some more serious attributes into the dwarves characters, but we aren’t entirely convinced. This judgement will probably have to wait until we see the final film.
Anticipation
So given all of that, how are we feeling about The Hobbit as a film? As far as we are concerned, December 14 can’t come soon enough. Despite any misgivings about the dwarves, or the intensifying of the Lord of the Rings references, we haven’t forgotten that one magical ingredient – the Peter Jackson factor.
At the end of the day, we will go and see anything that man creates, and The Hobbit looks like it’s going to be a thoroughly enjoyable (and, oh we hate to make use of this fitting yet overused word – oh all right – EPIC) film.
If we can manage to keep Tolkien and Jackson’s Hobbit separate, there is no reason why we won’t love it. The cast is brilliant, the visuals are stunning, and we get more motion capture Andy Serkis – no complaints there. We could still probably lose the hipster dwarves though.
Release dates:
Finding it difficult to keep track? Check out when each of the films will be hitting theatres:
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey on December 14, 2012
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug on December 13, 2013
The Hobbit: There and Back Again on July 18, 2014
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