[Suzerain of Sheol]

Okay... this took me a while, but I've been quite busy. Should be more on-schedule now.

Scene 2: Concerning Hobbits

So, here we have a scene that wasn't in the book, but is more or less essential to introduce the film. I have no problem with this, as a concept. It's within Bilbo's character that he would talk to himself in this fashion.

Again, a good touch with the map, though I'll note that that's a rather undetailed map. It doesn't actually tell a new viewer very much, considering the Shire isn't even called out on it.

I object to him adding “The Third Age of this world,” at the very end. One, it's totally redundant; there's no reason Bilbo would ever say or think that to himself, he probably doesn't even know that it's the Third Age. And secondly, the Age doesn't matter. The First and Second Ages might as well not even exist in the films' universe, they have no bearing on the plot whatsoever.

Okay, now... it seems a bit strange to me that Bilbo is just now writing the first pages of his memoir. He's been home from his adventures for decades. It makes no sense that he would wait until now to begin writing them. I understand the cinematic device, I just think it's illogical.

Though... granted, it does get us a disguised info-dump. I'm not a fan of info-dumps, though, so I can't really excuse this.

At this time, it's probably a good place to point out how wonderful the Shire looks. One of the locations that the filmmakers really got right. It's more or less perfect.

And... that's it for this short scene. Much less to talk about than the prologue, understandably. Overall, it serves a purpose, but it has things that can't help but irritate me. But, I will file them under the burden of adapting the book to a film. It limits the available ways to convey information, and, taken as just a film, there's nothing glaringly wrong with the scene.