The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Ian Holm, Elijah Wood, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Andy Serkis, Ken Stott, Graham McTavish, William Kircher
Directed by: Peter Jackson
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy
2012

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: Hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) is caught up in an expected adventure when he agrees to accompany Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and a dozen dwarves to help them reclaim their homeland.

Review:

Tim: I felt simultaneously ecstatic and reserved about seeing The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is perhaps the greatest trilogy ever made. I loved those films, and all three were close to perfection. I was very excited about the prospect of returning to Middle Earth. Unfortunately, this film just didn't seem up to the same level of quality that we were used to. Sadly, this proved to be the case. While I'd just barely consider this a great movie, it's a steep drop from the previous trilogy.

Without a doubt, my favorite part of this movie was returning to Middle Earth. Watching The Lord of the Rings trilogy, spread out over three long years, was one of the most amazing viewing experiences I've had. Each film was so incredible, and I was so anxious to find out what happened next. The characters, the adventure, the story- it all remains firmly fixed in my mind. I would jump at the chance to return once again, even with a drop in quality. My favorite part of this movie was seeing these characters, seeing the gorgeous New Zealand landscape, listening to the familiar music (the hobbit theme gave me shivers). While this film delivers, all these strengths came from the goodwill generated from The Lord of the Rings- it had nothing to do with this film.

The biggest problem with this movie is "The Hobbit" was a short book. It's absolutely ridiculous that Peter Jackson turned that story into three films. I understand it was for monetary reasons (no, of course it was for artistic "integrity", right?). This was a cash grab, plain and simple. These movies are going to suffer as a result. There's simply not enough here to support a full film, especially not one that clocks in at an absurd 169 minutes. It felt like Jackson took his sweet time with every scene- nothing is rushed, everything comes at us in a much slower pace. We've got three films to fill, so we certainly have to take our time getting there. Not much actually happens in this film. There's a lot of talking, a lot of reminiscing about the last three movies. That might have been fun in a way, but it doesn't exactly help the quality of this film.

Now, I'm being pretty critical, but it's all relative. Peter Jackson has created a great movie here. It's certainly not up to the standards of the first trilogy, but this movie is better than the vast majority that comes out of Hollywood. It's an exciting, thrilling, entertaining adventure in a wonderful, dangerous fantasy world. It made for a very fun viewing experience. I loved returning to Middle Earth, and I had fun going on this journey.

Martin Freeman was a great choice to play the younger Bilbo Baggins. Freeman has such a likable personality and he was very convincing as this hesitant but strong hobbit. I loved him in the lead role. It was great seeing Ian McKellen as Gandalf once again, but McKellen is getting pretty old, and he just seemed very tired to me here. Richard Armitage was the best of the dwarves, but I didn't think he was fantastic. He's clearly a step below a Viggo Mortensen, which hurt this movie some.

I liked that this film brought back a number of actors from the first trilogy, but it felt like some of them were forced into the story. We do get a short introduction to the story by seeing Ian Holm as Bilbo and Elijah Wood as Frodo. Their importance to the story is virtually nil. Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, and Christopher Lee felt more central to the story, but even still, it felt like Jackson went a bit out of his way to add them in. Andy Serkis was great as Gollum. One other complaint I had was that the dwarves were a bit too forgettable. Besides Thorin, none of them made much of an impact on me.

This prequel trilogy starts off on a fine foot. While it's by no means even close to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, this is still a pretty great movie. I have hopes that this trilogy will pick up steam in the second and third installment. While this film could have been better, it's still a very enjoyable movie.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 8



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Lord of the Rings trilogy