Filmmaker Peter Jackson’s Extended Edition of Episode I of his pair of Tolkien trilogies, otherwise known as “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” (Warner five-disc set, $54.98) offers about 13 minutes of additional footage integrated into the movie, a three-hour aduio commentary, and nearly nine hours of bonus features.
Once again, the 3D on the Blu-ray is very obvious and impactful, including in the newly-added scenes and scene extensions, including the now 10-minute prologue showing more of the white gems that spark the rift between elves and dwarves, and more of the gold coveted by the dragon that becomes the downfall of the dwarves when the dragon unleashes a vicious and devastating attack. Other extended scenes include a few more seconds with Bilbo and Gandalf talking on the way to Rivendell.
There are also several brief new scenes, including one-minute of Bilbo Baggns walking through an outdoor market and mistakenly concerned that he sees the wizard, and a 2 1/2-minute scene called “The Last Homely House” in which Bilbo is extended an offer to stay and not continue his quest.
Thank goodness there is no sign of the distracting hyper-HD High-Frame-Rate (HFR) format used for the first time in the theaterical release of this film (48 frames-per-second (compared to normal 24 fps), which is so overly vivid and high-contrast that it became a distraction and looked like a home camcorder video with no softness or texture.
In their interesting but mostly techinical feature-length audio commentary only on the 2D version of the Extended Edtion Jackson and co-producer/screenwriter Phillipa Boyens note that this film and the two upcoming follow-ups that were shot simultaneously with the first one is intended to be the first chapter in the six-part series based on the J. R. R. Tolkien books that we know as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. (Jackson says the audio commentary was recorded as he was starting to shoot pick-up shots for the second and the third chapters – expect a lot more of the dragon in “The Desolation of Smaug,” he says.)
In contrast to the re-numbering / re-ordering of the movies a la Star Wars, Jackson’s famous fanboy-friendly massive pair of bonus features on the home version of each of his films in the Tolkien series produced by Michael Pellerin are continued chronologically here by the order in which they have been produced. In this case, “The Appendices Part 7: A Long Expected Journey” and “The Appendices Part 8: Return to Middle Earth” are each nearly five hours long and include what appears to be a compilation of constant coverage of everything that happened on set and behind-the-scenes for the duration of the production right up through the final shot and production wrap, including cast and crew saying their goodbyes.
For those who are not so passionate and obsessed but instead of a more passing interest in the movies themselves, Part 7 features a five-minute preview of The Desolation of Smaug, coming to theaters Dec. 13, 2013.
And there is a six-minute featurette on the virtues and wonders of filming in New Zealand.
As with the theatrical version, the 3D here is clearly noticeable throughout the movie, especially dynamic in shots showing a lush mountainside city; in the Fraggle Rock-like lair of the goblin king featuring a multi-level labyrinth of suspended walkways; on mountain cliffs where characters are frequently dangling perilously; and in flight with giant hawks carrying our ragtag group of diminutive adventurers to safety. Jackson even throws in a couple marginally effective gimmicky, brief shots of a bird, and later a butterfly, fluttering to the center of the screen and pushing out slightly into the audience.
As for the movie itself, “Hobbit” starts off slow but picks up and is engaging enough to hold your attention for the last two hours (it’ now exceeds three hours of running time). The story and characters, especially star Martin Freeman as Bilbo, are not particularly charismatic, and much of the action and situations stretch beyond reason and credibility, even within the expanded boundaries for a fantasy film. No doubt hardcore fans will be more appreciative and forgiving, but to others “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” will feel bloated and not a totally unexpected indulgence by Jackson.
— By Scott Hettrick