Rent The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

Disappointing Prequel to LOTR - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey review by GI

I revisit this film occasionally in the hope that I'll come to like it. It seems to me to be a film that ought to be something special and yet it lacks that sense of wonder and amazement that director Peter Jackson managed so brilliantly with his Lord Of The Rings trilogy. Perhaps the originality of those films just cannot be replicated now that the world of Middle-earth has been revealed although I think it's that the sense of realism that was created in the fantasy world of LOTR has somehow not been successfully recreated in The Hobbit series. It is also incredible that Jackson has managed to eek out a trilogy of films from a very slim children's novel and in doing so he has attempted to incorporate the book's child focused narrative and sense of fun with the dark atmosphere and horror aspects of the LOTR book and narrative, and this doesn't work effectively. On the positive side there are flashes of the dark fantasy film that fans hoped for and Martin Freeman is simply superb as the trilogy's titular hero, Bilbo Baggins who is forced into an adventure with a group of disaffected dwarves to reclaim their homeland now occupied by a fearsome dragon whom we shall only glimpse in this first film. This is an accomplished film with some wonderful visual creations that fans will tolerate because of the brilliance of the LOTR series but it's ultimately a disappointment and one only wonders what Guillermo del Toro who was originally to direct this, would have done with it.

Overlong, too many CGI battles, but passable pixie and wizard fantasy fare - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey review by PV

This film at its worst is like the tedious 2nd part of Lord of the Rings - with boring battle after boring battle.

However, there is enough story to keep it going - and some really excellent dialogue (from the book or the film), especially by Ian McKellen playing Gandalf. Sylvester McCoy does a good turn as a scatty St-Francis of Assisi-style wizard, with some lovely animals, although the plot points are a bit confusing sometimes.

The dwarfs are good - (yep, it should be dwarfs and NOT dwarves as they use here in the subtitles) - and there is some great British acting talent on display: Christopher Lee (AKA Dracula) is almost 90 and still does a great turn. Plus, I am delighted they use the word 'chips' to mean, well, chips! And not 'fries'. The New Zealand scenery if lovely too.

I would advise use of subtitles to appreciate the dialogue, as with lots of noisy movies these days - unless you are a child who just wants the pictures and noises and bright colours.

All in all, not a bad effort. 3 stars - and would have been 4 if they had shown self-discipline and cut out the flab to make this 2 hours. Really, it is too long - and the orc CGI battles are boring, frankly.

How much you like this movie depends on how much you are in love with elves, wizards, orcs, dwarfs and the whole LOTR schtick.

The Hobbit: A Disappointing & Unoriginal Journey - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey review by CP Customer

An unexpected journey, indeed.

If you expected The Hobbit would turn to be a great movie, you may want to expect the unexpected.

I mean, yes, the title character is masterfully performed by Martin Freeman; Gandalf, Galadriel and the beautiful landscapes are as enjoyable as ever, but that's about it. Oh yeah, there are a few scenic sunsets, too. What's left of the movie (like, the movie itself?!) suffers and seems all too repetitive.

At the root of all this movie's evils is... greed. To near-sighted executives, three movies mean thrice the profit. You can do that with Lord of the Rings, which has three books rich with story and detail. But turning the simpler, younger-audience-oriented story of The Hobbit into three movies is simply overkill. And it shows. The director desperately tries to find more content to fit into the movie. Thus he puts in the movie aspects of the Middle Earth universe not covered in the book. He gives extended screen time to insignificant events (including a 40 minute introduction) and he shamelessly bloats the movie with long, drawn-out fighting scenes, obnoxiously peppered with ridiculously cheap thrills.

There is that "cliffhanger" expression, but here it's obnoxiously literal. The whole movie is a non-stop race of literal cliffhanger moments. To give just an example, imagine a character hanging over a precipice, after having grabbed at the last possible moment, while falling, from another character that hangs himself from Gandalf's staff, that was stretched at the last possible moment towards him, to save him from a deadly fall; Gandalf himself grabbing the branch of a tree that itself hangs horizontally over the precipice, gradually uprooting itself, nestling the other members of Bilbo's party, that hang for dear life after managing to save themselves in that last standing three, which was itself knocked over in a domino effect by a series of falling trees on a thin stretch of land hanging over a precipice, where the warg-riding goblins cornered them, eventually, after a drawn-out chasing and fighting scene. Oh yes and when they all eventually fall from that tree, guess what, the giant eagles appear and catch them, at the last possible moment. That's an actual scene that pretty much sums up the whole movie, in all it's revolting obnoxious abuse of cheesy thrills.

So if you think you can withstand such a revolting insult to your intelligence, then, by all means, go see the movie, there's Bilbo in it, and Gandalf, and Galadriel and beautiful landscapes and scenic sunsets. But, after having watched the LOTR series it seems all too familiar and samey and quite vacuous by comparison. Much overrated in my opinion but still perhaps worth seeing.