Upon the announcement of the film adaptations of The Hobbit with Peter Jackson as the director, I felt this major excitement for the continuation--well, I guess the pre-establishing--of the universe we were introduced to with The Lord of the Rings. I was prepared for the fantasy genre to perhaps even make a comeback in cinema due to its success.
As is the case with most things in entertainment media, the next entry, prequel or not, tends to be far weaker than its predecessor in almost every possible way. Sadly, this was the case with The Hobbit's trilogy.
Personally, I found The Hobbit to have completely distanced itself from the world The Lord of the Rings had unravelled: this dark yet colourful, mysterious land of magic, friendship, and evil that knows no boundaries. The fantasy genre was finally getting the dedication it deserves given the sheer depth within fantasy lore.
The Hobbit seemed to have dropped the more serious approach and replaced it with out-of-place comedy, unlikable characters, and generally poor performances. The films felt far less authentic as well, given the almost-criminal amount of obvious special effects; come on, having the main threat of the story be nothing but a special effect is nothing short of laziness.
The Lord of the Rings felt far more authentic with its choice to shoot at real locations--specifically throughout New Zealand--which helped redeem the use of special effects when absolutely necessary. Anyone that has seen the behind-the-scenes footage of The Hobbit will have seen the plethora of props surrounded by nothing but artificiality, and that is always what ruins films of this genre. If you are going to create a film that is based on such well-thought depth and lore, not taking the effort to create the locations it takes place in will ultimately be the reason for its failure.
I believe these issues are not at the fault of Peter Jackson or its cast, but yet another disappointing studio decision; a film must be profitable, of course, so why would you bother spending so much money on authenticity if quality doesn't particularly matter to the studio? Of course, though, the fans certainly mind, and many complained about the very things I have mentioned thus far. Once again the pockets of big film studios are the reason another film that has previously displayed and established its successes in the market reaches its peak and falls into the bucket of forgotten dreams. As is the case with large films: a film cannot be good, cheap, and successful all at once.
It's an unfortunate outcome for the universe of hobbits, dwarves, wizards and elfs, and it will certainly create a ripple within the fantasy genre, which will now suffer even more until finally somebody does give it the recognition it deserves.
