I’m really excited for the Hobbit movies, but I was a little worried by the first preview.  The Hobbit my parents read me (and it was one of the first books I remember being read) was scary, and compelling, and adventurous, but also funny!  This is the book of “Break the cups and crack the plates / that’s what Bilbo Baggins hates” and “Down down to Goblin Town” and trolls arguing with one another until the sun comes up and they’re all turned to stone.  Wit and whimsy are called for, and while the Lord of the Rings films don’t take themselves nearly as seriously as the books do, they tack toward dignity and composure.  Trying to imagine The Hobbit with the same hauntingly vast landscape and the beautiful, impersonal majesty of score and camerawork, I felt something would be lost.  The Hobbit has the same beauty and age as Lord of the Rings, but presented through a much more personal (and maybe less inherently tragic?  Need to think about that one…) lens.

I’m relieved to see, though, that Peter Jackson and company understand that the movies need to be funny!

All the talk in the trailer of Darkness and Bravery and Adventures is well and good, but the humor here, gimme as it is, has me excited for six more hours of Jackson & co.’s Middle Earth. And I love the thought of Gandalf getting in on the Dwarves’ betting circle.

(video via ToplessRobot)