jacohop

The production value is top of the line. The visuals are really, really great. The set design and effects were basically perfect. Acting was good. But man, the characters, the events... in short, the writing was more of a collection of clichés than anything. It was really hard to care about what was happening on the screen. I don't think it's a total loss. I think they could build something good out of this, but they really need to step up their writing. They need to figure out how to make a storyline that doesn't sound like ChatGPT wrote it. The rest of the structure is there. So I ended up giving it a six because it's so well made, but the story itself is barely a five.

I just watched nine episodes in a row and I'm in tears. It's stupid, funny, and clever all at once-little throwaway jokes tucked between the bigger ones. Of course it would fly under the radar. I'd recommend it to anyone who's ever had family in, or experience with, the film business. It's dumb but very good, and I don't think I've laughed this hard in a while. I only found it because of a podcast where Alan Tudyk was cracking up while describing a scene, and I thought, well, I have to check this out. Glad I did. The only odd thing is the episode length-some are under 10 minutes.

I've been a Tolkien fan for a long time-read all the books, seen all the movies-and I really enjoyed this series. (It's infinitely better than whatever mess the Hobbit movies were... there, now you have some data points to judge the rest of my opinions.) It's not just beautiful-it's expertly made. Every part of the production feels deliberate and well-crafted. The show leans heavily on dialogue, which isn't especially clever or quotable, but it does the job. It's more describey than sharp, and it supports a solid story underneath. It might not click for some because there's a lot to remember-the show's trying to lay the groundwork for all the arcs that eventually bloom in the LOTR trilogy. I'd guess those issues explain most of the hate in other reviews. That said, I'd wager a third of you will really like it-especially if you enjoy shows that lean nerdy. About 15% will definitely hate it, for reasons that mostly escape me, but that seems to be how these things go. Hopefully you're in the first group, because you'll get to enjoy the series.