The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey hit the theaters Dec. 15, bringing viewers back to the magical land of Middle Earth.
The film is the first of three adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s book The Hobbit. Director Peter Jackson also made the film editions of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Set some 60 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit follows the adventures of Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), uncle to Frodo Baggins from Rings. He’s coerced by Gandalf the wizard (Ian McKellen) into joining a group of dwarves in their quest to reclaim the dwarves’ lost gold. In order to do that, however, they must travel great distances and defeat a dragon, Smaug.
An Unexpected Journey covers more than just the book. A substantial amount of content is added in that strives to connect this series with Lord of the Rings. Throughout the movie, subtle hints are made towards a rising darkness, which we know will become Sauron in The Lord of the Rings.
Despite these changes, the plotline follows the book fairly well. There’s an awful lot of walking, however; at 2 hours and 49 minutes, it’s certainly a long movie. Viewers used to the three-hour-long Lord of the Rings movies might not mind, but to the newcomer it could be a bit much.
The performances from the cast, however, make the film thoroughly enjoyable throughout. Freeman plays the part of the bumbling, unwilling, confused hobbit very well. McKellen reprises his role as a seemingly-foolish wizard, but talks politics with the elves and shows his deeper understanding of Middle Earth. Richard Armitage, who plays Thorin Oakenshield, leader of the group of dwarves, comes off as gruff at first but shows his nice side when he accepts Bilbo into the company.
Even though An Unexpected Journey serves as the prequel to Lord of the Rings, it doesn’t quite feel like the old movies. Jackson has gone all out with the CGI, making the movie feel like a video game. Where the goblins in Lord of the Rings were people wearing costumes, they’re rendered in computer graphics in An Unexpected Journey.
At the end of the day, though, it’s well worth seeing, especially for fans of the series. Since there are still two more parts to come, there is curiosity as to what they will entail as far as the Lord of the Rings tie-in content. Part two, The Desolation of Smaug, and part three, There and Back Again are expected to wrap up the story of Thorin’s company of dwarves as well as lead into The Lord of the Rings.
Unfortunately, it’ll be quite a while before the story is resolved: The Desolation of Smaug is slated for a December 2013 release and There and Back Again for release in July 2014.