A Brief Review of "The Hobbit"

     I was fortunate enough to be able to see "The Hobbit" yesterday; and I enjoyed it very much.  As with all movies, there were definite pros and cons, of course, and it is these that I would like to discuss briefly.
     I shall start, I think, with the pros.  The music, scenery, and most of the casting were brilliant.  Howard Shore is truly a genius; the dwarves' song, which serves as the man theme for the whole film, is perfect, and the many other themes are beautiful as well.  The scenery is simply gorgeous (I need not say more).  The actors who played Bilbo, Thorin & Co., Gandalf, and Galadriel were excellent.  The actor who played Elrond was, through no fault of his own, not quite perfect.  His voice is just what comes to mind of when I think of Elrond, but his physical appearance is, in my mind at least, not quite right.
     Now for the cons of the movie.  The two main things that irritated me were these: 1.  Tolkien's book is a children's story, a charming tale of adventure.  The movie has lost this charm, and is simply an epic fantasy action film, though a good one.  2.  The decision to make "The Hobbit" into a trilogy is quite annoying to me.  I can understand making two movies, but three, I think, crosses a line.  It is a decision made simply to make more money, which is rather ironic, seeing as the story deals much with dwarves and their love of gold.
     Another thing that bothered me was that, although many lines from the book were used in the film, the filmmakers did not follow the plot of the book very closely.  There were parts that were practically unchanged, but there were other parts that were completely invented.  For example, one of the major plot lines of the film has to do with the orc Azog, who was never mentioned in The Hobbit.  (For more information on Azog, see The Return of the King, Appendix A, pp. 441-443.)
     There were other small details that were wrong, but also many that were right.  I have spent more time discussing the cons than the pros, but the pros do not need to be talked over and picked through.  It suffices merely to say that all the pros were excellent pros, and that "The Hobbit" was a very good movie that I enjoyed very much.