Film Reviews: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Quite a risky film to make, this one.   Tolkien has a huge number of fans, as does the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.   There was always going to be a huge amount of pressure on this movie to be good.   It was also a risky decision to split the film into three.   Was it really necessary?   The film follows Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit, who is reluctantly sent off on a quest with 13 dwarves to go and claim back their old kingdom from Smaug the dragon.   They set out, battle trolls and goblins and get help from elves and eagles and wizards.   Personally, I enjoyed the film, but it's far from perfect.   I very much liked the casting choices.   Martin Freeman is a great choice for Bilbo.   He very much looks the part of a hobbit, and is a very believable young version of Ian Holm (Bilbo in the Lord of the Rings).   I liked the dwarves too and how they all have their own distinctive looks and styles.   In the book there wasn't very much character development for them at all.   They were pretty much just The Dwarves.   The film itself looks great too.   Really pretty and detailed, and with some very funny moments.   And i liked the touch of not seeing Smaug in the film.   All we see is one eye.   Keeping what he looks like as a surprise for a later film makes him more scary.   Nice!   I did feel the film was a bit drawn out though.   I could have understood the decision to split the film into two, as so many films seem to be doing, but I think three was a bit much.   There are plenty of bits that could have been cut.   I'm not talking about Radagast the wizard.   I think it was cool how much screen time he got.   I thought Peter Jackson did a really good job of taking a very minor character and really developing him into something the audience could really love.   But there was a lot of time spent messing about in Rivendell with the elves and wizards holding council that was just delaying the story in really getting going.   I doubt the scene would even have been made if the Lord of the Rings hadn't been made first.   Though I must admit it was bloody impressive how they managed to make all the actors look the same age as they did in Lord of the Rings.   I felt there were some really over the top moments as well, like the dwarves throwing plates around Bilbo's kitchen, and somehow I don't think the Great Goblin would be very likely to just say "That'll do it" when someone runs him through with a sword.   Oh, and the Great Goblin's voice just didn't go well with his body either.   No.   Still, despite all this the film works pretty well, and retains a lot of the same magic and magnificence that made us all love the Lord of the Rings films so much, and I remain a big Peter Jackson fan.