The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Welcome to another episode of Lights....Camera....Popcorn!

Today's review is The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

Directed by Peter Jackson.

Written by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens & Guillermo Del Toro.

Based on the novel "The Hobbit". Written by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Review #195

MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for extended sequences of intense fantasy action violence, and frightening images.

Run Time: 169 min

Cast

Ian McKellen...Gandalf

Martin Freeman...Bilbo

Richard Armitage...Thorin

Ken Stott...Balin

Graham McTavish...Dwalin

William Kircher...Bifur / Tom Troll

James Nesbitt...Bofur

Stephen Hunter...Bombur

Dean O'Gorman...Fili

Aidan Turner...Kili

John Callen...Oin

Peter Hambleton...Gloin / William Troll

Jed Brophy...Nori

Mark Hadlow...Dori / Bert Troll

Adam Brown...Ori

Ian Holm...Old Bilbo

Elijah Wood...Frodo

Hugo Weaving...Elrond

Cate Blanchett...Galadriel

Christopher Lee...Saruman

Andy Serkis...Gollum

Sylvester McCoy...Radagast

The Lord of The Rings was and remains today the finest example of fantasy in every possible sense of the word. The books are stunning and detailed down to the last blade of the grass in the shire. Then the films came and if there was ever a way to transport the written page to the silver screen, Peter Jackson and his brilliance gave us a trilogy of films that were as majestic as they were magical.

There are some gripes with the trilogy. Most of them fall along the films run times. Anyone who complains about that aren't true Rings fans. The only way to properly capture the expansive universe of Middle Earth is by giving us as much as humanly possible. The balance may have been tipped over a bit but it was for the greater good as we were treated to some of the closest page to picture translations that has ever been attempted.

Fast forward 8 years after The Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King, we all get to take another journey back to Middle Earth with the story that started it all.

Plot

A younger and more reluctant Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, sets out on a "unexpected journey" to the Lonely Mountain with a spirited group of Dwarves to reclaim a their stolen mountain home from a dragon named Smaug. 

I have to be honest. While I was glad and very excited that The Hobbit was being made, I prefer The Lord of The Rings by a very wide margin. This is with the knowledge that my favorite character in all of the books, Gandalf is more prominent in The Hobbit than in The Rings. The Hobbit though fun and adventurous doesn't have as many rich characters or compelling story lines. This is the first thing that you experience while watching this film.

Since this is technically a prequel to The Lord of The Rings, having seen what happens to Middle Earth 60 years after the events of The Hobbit kind of washes away the shine that this film should have. In fact it's quite similar to the Star Wars saga with one MAJOR exception. The prequels didn't and won't suck major ass!

OK. Let's get the director out of the way. Believe it or not, Peter Jackson was not hired to direct The Hobbit. That assignment was given to super mega geek Guillermo Del Toro. He was writing the script and was going to direct two Hobbit films. This scared a lot of people because Jackson had declined to do more Middle Earth movies. I wasn't one of these people. I, for one was thrilled that Del Toro was going to give this a shot. He's one of my favorite directors who's just a massive geek that can tell the hell out of a story.

Need proof? I have two words for you.

Pan's Labyrinth.

Case closed.

Sadly scheduling and denied budget conflicts forced Del Toro to back out of the project. This left New Line Cinema scrambling to find someone to take over. The names bantered about where in a word scary. Michael Bay, Stephen Sommers, McG, Sam Raimi just to name a few. Things looked somewhat bleak until finally the man himself was convinced to get back in the chair and take us all back to the land of Hobbits, Dwarves, Wizards and Elves.

Though I would've loved to have seen what Del Toro would have done with the material, the fact remains that Peter Jackson is truthfully the only man for the job. He did such an amazing job with the Rings trilogy that it would be impossible to see anyone else taking the reigns of the franchise. Having said that you have to be careful what you wish for because you might get it. What we get is more of the same from Jackson which is both good and bad.

First the good.

Jackson hasn't lost a step. This film looks and feels exactly like I remembered 11 years ago when The Fellowship of The Ring came out. The scenery was stunning. The characters that overlap both books were a sight for sore eyes and the new characters were a treat also. The action was tremendous. There were quite a few wonderful action set pieces here that rival what was seen and done in the previous three films. The special effects were of course top notch. WETA workshop is by far the best FX house in the world.

I can't wait to see what Smaug looks like in full form.

Just like the other Rings films. The Hobbit is full of wonderful performances by some top notch actors. Sir Ian McKellen is now and forever will be Gandalf. The man oozes wizard. Martin Freeman does a very good job giving us a sense of what Bilbo was like as a younger more adventurous hobbit. Hugo Waeving, Cate Blanchett & Christopher Lee all shine as Lord Elrond, Galadriel and Saruman respectively. However, the star of this show is Thorin Oakenshield played by Richard Armitage. Just like The Fellowship of The Rings establishes Frodo. The Hobbit establishes Thorin. He's the driving force of this film in more ways than one. He provides the leadership and motivation for the dwarves to try and take back their home from Smaug. I could be wrong he seemed a little more angry and prejudiced towards Bilbo as I remember from the book. This may have been a plot device to get Bilbo more involved since Thorin is the main man here.

Here's where a little of the bad comes in. Because The Hobbit has to introduce new characters to the audience, Jackson spends a lot of time, A LOT of time going through story exposition and flashbacks. All designed to get us through the events led up to where we are now. In The Fellowship of The Ring that took about 5-10 min right at the top. It was the fastest condensed display of several chapters of the book that I have ever seen. The point is that they pulled it off well and The Hobbit doesn't. It just drags. The film doesn't pick up until the group heads out for their quest and that's a good 30 plus minutes in.

That's way too long to get things going.

The rest of the film is full of story exposition but it's designed to set up the future installments of this new trilogy. Which segues nicely into the decision late in production to turn The Hobbit from initially two films to three. As much As I love these movies (and I do LOVE these movies) there is such a thing as too much of a good thing and Jackson and co are testing the fans acceptance and tolerance level. This plan of attack worked for The Lord of The Rings for the obvious reason that it was a trilogy of books. The Hobbit is just one book and a rather short book at that. I have no idea how they are getting three films out of this. The argument can be made that dividing it up into three parts gives them a chance to flesh out smaller characters and plot lines. That was very evident in chapter one of this new trilogy.

That philosophy makes sense but there comes a time where you have to know when to cut your losses and move the story along. This is the "problem" of having a director who's such a fan of the material. Jackson wants to show everything and that's just not possible. I admire and appreciate the passion and attempt but you also have to cater to the non rings fans just as much and the true fans if not more so. The true fans will already be there and show up in droves. The opening weekend's take of $84.6 million beans is proof of that. You have to appeal to the lesser known crowd and if you make a film that times out at just under three hours, you are skating on very thin ice.

This was more evident here than in the other films. I think it's because the material though rich in it's own rights just isn't deep enough to spread across three films. I'm willing to hold out judgement until I've seen the final two. I just hope the dragon is seen before reel three of the final film.

All told. The Hobbit was a very good film and it was great to see Middle Earth again. I just hope that the next two entries do what The Two Towers and The Return of The King did for Lord of The Rings. They enhanced the experience and put a bow on the adventure.

We'll find out December 13, 2013 and as always....

I'll be ready!

On the 5 star scale. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey gets 4 stars with a "Go See It!" recommendation.

That's a wrap for today. Up next is Silver Linings Playbook.

Until Next Episode...."I'll Save You A Seat!"

"D"