Tis a bit too…Lord of the Rings.

I think it hits all the right spots.  Gave me chills.

I do agree it could be a little more epic, but being that the dwarves are such a huge part of the story, I don’t think there was any way for them to remain in the background of this first trailer. 

The first one was good, the second one was okay, and the third one sucked.  I hope this one doesn’t continue that trend.   

Well Nick, it’s not as epic. Nor is it supposed to be. Not a huge fan of how this trailer was cut myself…it’s just not that well put together as a piece of advertising, but how could you have not known that this film was a lot more like (the first half or so) of Fellowship of the Ring in terms of it’s scope?

Gotcha, Nick.  Didn’t like it.  Word.  You can rightly go fuck yourself then.  Trailer was fried gold.

Nick, is that to mean that Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright would back you up in this fight?  Nice.  Also nonsensica, and somewhat Harry Knowles-like.  Way to go, sir.

I kind of agree, Nick. Huge LOTR fan her, and I think It’s an odd trailer. It has abrupt shifts in tone and the choice to go directly into the dwarven song without explaining (or even hinting at) the quest is strange choice. It’s like the trailer wants to go with a more traditional narrative in the 1st half then says “fuck it, let’s show some footage of familiar imagery to get people excited” for the 2nd half. Not that I don’t like what I see, but the whole thing is really a teaser that wants to be a trailer, but doesn’t have the time or the footage to do it right. 

True, I should have said disagreement.  Still, I’m not entirely sure what Pegg and Wright have to do with anything about this trailer or contents within.  You are out of order.

My first impression wasn’t that I didn’t like it, but rather that the tone of the first half wasn’t oddly polarizing while the second half felt way better.

I liked it; wasn’t blown away by it. But keep in mind some of the “epic” stuff people may be missing may not have even been shot yet. Obviously they’re going to withhold even a whiff of Smaug until much closer to release, and that’s wise.

I know this already has been discussed to death, but I’m one of those folks who does think a few of the dwarves don’t look dwarvish enough. But I’m not going to freak out about it. Most of them still look great, and the variations obviously will help audiences tell them apart, so I forgive.

What I did love, though, is seeing McKellen stepping back into Gandalf as if the last ten years simply hadn’t occurred.

No it’s fine, it starts “lite” then slowly picks up weight. Not every beat has to be a climax when you’re telling a story, even in trailer form. I’m never going to remember all those names though, even after 4 -6 hours of two movies – it will indeed be “Big Nose” and “Fat Bastard” etc.

Trailer did absolutely nothing for me. I’m sure as the day gets closer my anticipation will increase, but could never get excited for a Rings movie. They’re awesome, just not hype worthy for me, for some odd reason.

The trailer doesn’t really do it for me either. However, on the topic of it not seeming epic, I’m reminded of the first trailer I saw for Fellowship of the Ring. At that point I suspect most of the effects were unfinished, and it seemed really small scale. As in TV miniseries scale. I suspect it’s the same case here.

Well, that was… hmmm. It wasn’t as EPIC as I expected it to be. I am underwhelmed by it certainly, since there is nothing new, just more of the same, and there are no real stakes. The problem is, we all know how the story ends. Besides, I always felt that a big screen adaptation of The Hobbit was the very definition of superflurous.

I think it was more “remember how fucking awesome Lord of the Rings was?” and less “The Hobbit” than anything.  We got about as much of Gandalf in that trailer as we did in all of Fellowship.  Gollum at the end was 100% callback.  It didn’t try to sell itself as a continuation of the story as much as it did as selling itself as more of the same.
 
However, in its goal to make you remember how great LotR was, it succeeded with flying colors.

I also think that we, being people who have scoured over every detail of the fork Peter Jackson used to eat lunch one day while filming it, were not the target audience of the trailer.
 
The trailer was for people who didn’t know there was a Hobbit being made, didn’t know Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis and Peter Jackson were returning.
 
But the question there is if there actually were any people who didn’t know that.

I’m actually surprised by how much I liked it.  I’ve not had much interest in it at all but that looked good.  Those designs in 3D will be staggering.  I have no issue with it feeling the same as LOTR but I do wonder what it would have looked like with Del Toro at the helm.

I don’t say this lightly – each to their own and all that – but if you didn’t leave that trailer covered in fucking goosebumps, nostalgia sauce, and frothy anticipation….you’re just plain weird. Sorry. That was pure, pure gold.

It was epic. EPIC FAIL. A just sat there bewildered how BAD that was. The introduction of the dwarves was pure National Lampoon spoof territory. Did they hint Gandalf and Galadriel have some nookie?! ;Artin Freeman looks completely out of place. I didn’t buy him as Bilbo for a second. He looked like a third rate TV actor hamming it up in a wig. And the cinematography – so fucking high contrast it made my eyes bleed. What a fucking mess. The good news is they are still shooting, so hopefully the good stuff is still to some. But holy crap that snippet WAS FRIED SHIT WITH FRIES.

It was just a bit underwhelming, but I guess that’s to be expected for a movie that’s not even done filming yet.  It was probably edited over a weekend while the rest of the crew was moving locations.  And the song is atmospheric, but that atmosphere is kind of ruined by seeing the actors actually singing it.

On one hand, it seems like a good teaser…it introduces us to the characters and re-introduces us to the setting.  That’s good.
 
But it does a poor job of establishing the plot beyond, “There’s an adventure!”
 
I would imagine that yes, part of the problem is unfinished shooting and FX, but what I did see here I mostly liked, though I agree some of the Dwarves look…iffy.

Went into it looking for a witch to burn, but found only inconsistencies in the makeup: Why do some dwarves look like normal folk and others look like some poor pastiche? Anyway, looks pretty consistent with the trilogy, if not just because it seems to be introducing completely foreign elements (Gandalf/Galadriel tender moments? What?). I’m excited nonetheless.
 

Some of the makeup reminded me of characters from Ridley Scott’s Legend.

I thought the same thing.

I liked it, but they don’t need to impress me with a trailer to get my butt in a seat. The makeup was iffy, but nowhere near the Ben Franklin makeup on Ian Holm in the last film. The Misty Mountains song was very chilling (in a good way) and looks to be the theme. It’s more of a teaser than a trailer, so I’m happy to not be seeing much. I expect we’ll see the a wide shot flash of the dragon torching Laketown in a trailer just before opening. People need to know there’s a dragon.

well, considering the Hobbitt isn’t EPIC in the same way LOTR is… that could be why.

@Jmac…  thats the point of a TEASER.  its not suppose to spell out the whole movie, just to wet the whistles.  I for one thought it was awesome, just the song alone brought little quakes of happiness.  I also agree that this is a smaller story than LOTR and it wont be all encompassing.  Then again you think they are gonna blow their load in a teaser for a movie thats a year away?  lol  nope