PG-13, 208 min. (special
extended edition)
Director: Peter Jackson
Writers: Fran Walsh,
Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, J.R.R. Tolkien (novel)
Starring: Elijah Wood, Ian
McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Orlando Bloom, John
Rhys-Davies, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, Ian Holm, Liv Tyler, Cate Blanchett,
Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Marton Csokas, Andy Serkis, Alan Howard (voice)
So, Peter Jackson claims the
end to his time in Middle Earth has come with “The Hobbit: The Battle of the
Five Armies”, due in theaters December 17. As such, I felt it was time for my
sons’ time in Middle Earth to begin, and so it did over the Thanksgiving
weekend in what might become a new family tradition. The tradition won’t be to
watch “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy every Thanksgiving weekend, which is what
we did this year, but maybe we’ll do some film series every year. It seems to
me “Star Wars” would be an appropriate choice next Thanksgiving, And we could
watch all six movies in about the time it took us to watch the three extended
editions of LOTR.
The boys had only really
experienced one movie longer than three hours before. We watched “Avatar” last
year during a snow day. Amazingly, the LOTR ex eds make “Avatar” seem like your
average length movie. “Fellowship of the Ring” is the shortest of the three. We
watched it Thanksgiving night after spending the day with family and food. It
was no work at all to watch. The extended edition is much slower than the
theatrical edition, which was my least favorite of the series when I saw them
in theaters. Yet, even with its slower pace, it feels just about perfect for
the story it’s telling, and of the extended editions, it is the one that
doesn’t feel like it has scenes that should’ve been cut. I’m sure the only
reason Jackson did cut them for the theatrical release was to open the series
with a dramatic and even pace. The extended edition is much better, however.
At this point, I’ve seen the
extended version three times and the theatrical only the once. It’s difficult
for me to remember with this one just what is different, other than the quicker
feel of the theatrical version. That’s not the case with the other two films.
Many of the extended additions to those films are obvious and will always
remain so. This one feels like the natural cut of the movie.
It’s a rather impressive
introduction to Middle Earth. I can’t imagine trying to figure this world out
with some of the scenes omitted. Now, I had experienced Middle Earth when I was
a child, reading first “The Hobbit”, then much later most of the “Lord of the
Rings” books. I might’ve read them all, but for some reason I seem to remember
I never quite finished. I know I read up to Shelob’s lair.
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