Now Leaving The Shire...

Very few people appeared to be over 35 years old.  The vast majority were short, dark-haired and wearing glasses.  The girls were in simple clothes - drab coats, skinny jeans, and functional boots.  The guys wore Star Wars or Avengers T-shirts.  Some wore suspenders.  There was pleasant and polite chit-chat among the fans as they nibbled on popcorn and rattled boxes of Milk Duds (okay, the Milk Dud rattler was my husband).  Someone booed at an advertisement for Twilight-themed gift cards.

It was nice to be among my people.

I'm still a little surprised that we were able to get tickets - even a week in advance, one of the midnight showings at our favorite theatre was already sold out.  Ross and I nabbed tickets for the 3-D showing against my better judgment.  I might be a Geek Girl, but generally I can take or leave 3-D.  Like roller coasters.  They're fine and all, but I prefer not to be involved with them, thanks. 

Plus, paying $14 for a movie ticket gives me a rash.

Still, we packed our buckets of snacks like good little Hobbits (I brought homemade chocolate cupcakes in my giant purse) and struggled to find two seats together.  Pastor Stephanie had given up a heads-up that they had opened the theatre two hours in advance, and even at 11:00, she and her family had to split up because most of the seats were already taken!  We ended up sitting near the front, to the far left.  Which I disliked.  But hey...what are you going to do?  At least it wasn't the front row.

The previews seemed to last longer than usual - or maybe we were all just chomping at the bit after over a year of tantalizing trailers and teasers.  Although, I did let out an audible "Squee!" when they previewed the upcoming Star Trek movie.  With Benedict Cumberbatch as The Ultimate Bad Guy.  Mentally I prepared a summer's worth of dates with Ross - most of them centering around science fiction or superhero movies.

Not that he'd mind.

I won't release any spoilers here.  No, really.  'Cause I absolutely despise it when we Whovians who have some, er, catching up to do accidentally read the spoilers that are vomited all over Pinterest and tumblr!  So, no, I won't do that to anyone.

All I will say is that Martin Freeman was born to play Bilbo Baggins.  That should come as no surprise to anyone who's already planning on seeing the movie - or anyone who's ever seen him act in, like, anything.  Tiny, itty-bitty almost-spoiler alert: there is a brief scene featuring various woodland creatures being helped by a kooky wizard.  One animal present is a small hedgehog.  There are rampant internet comparisons of Martin Freeman to hedgehogs and Benedict Cumberbatch to otters (if you're a Sherlock fan, you get this...if not, move along).  Therefore, I could not help but miss Sherlock during that scene and wonder why the BBC is trying to destroy my life by slowly devouring it with excellent programming.  Moving on...there was a great deal more comedy and light-hearted banter in this movie, as compared to the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  There are a few gentle nods to the other movies, but this is very easily a stand-alone movie, for anyone whose husband (or wife, for that matter) might be goading them into a sci-fi or fantasy movie night.

Because beards turn any story
into an epic!

Speaking from a conservative perspective, for anyone who might have teenage or pre-teen fans in the house, I'll say that in general there is less violence than LoTR.  However, it does look more realistic because of the technological advancements made since the trilogy was released.   Tiny, itty-bitty almost-spoiler alert: there are several body parts chopped off in this movie.  Bad guys' body parts, of course, but it might be jarring to younger viewers.  There's not a lot of blood, though.  On the flip side, the presentation of the dwarves in this movie is quite different than the Gimli we meet elsewhere, and makes for a more "fun" fellowship than surly Sean Bean and L'Oreal spokes-elf Legolas.

So, basically, I'm saying: go see it.  The 3-D is pretty darn neat, but it's not necessary for the enjoyment of the film.  The great acting, humor, beautiful scenery and spectacular CG take care of that.