John D. Rateliff is one of the foremost experts on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. He is, of course, the author of the two-part book The History of The Hobbit which was published in 2007. It is considered the definitive examination of how the book came to be.
So just what does Rateliff think of Peter Jackson’s newest installment of his three-film adaptation? He’s blogged about it on his own website. Follow the link to his blog to find out. Choice quote:
The house that Jack(son) built, so to speak, turns out to have a frantic pace. One of the early reviews I saw of the movie praised it by comparison to the Indiana Jones films, and I think that’s justified. It’s just that this descriptor covers a lot of ground, from the freshness and excitement of the original RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK to the self-parody of INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM, the hapless follow-up. Luckily I think Jackson delivers a superior grade action movie. It’s just that THE HOBBIT is so much more than an action novel.