“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”

Rating of 1-10 : 7

Pros: The cast (Martin Freeman! Sir Ian McKellen! Richard Armitage! Martin Freeman!), it’s the freakin’ Hobbit!

Cons: Some scenes seem random and other nit-picking things.

It must be understood that I’m a big geek – I grew up a Trekkie, became a Star Wars fan later in life, have stated that I’m such a big Firefly fan that my blood runs brown (sounds gross? Yes…. but I make no apologies), a self-proclaimed Whovian (my baby shower was going to be themed Dr.Who), have dressed in costume at WonderCon (Ventress FTW!)….I could go on, but it starts to look kinda sad. That all being said, I was exceptionally excited about “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey“… so much so that I was planning on going to see it opening weekend when I was due to give birth (only to have the little guy pop out 3 weeks early! I had to wait a few months before being able to go… no consideration on his part… thanks, buddy).

“The Hobbit” by JRR Tolkien is one of the best books I’ve ever read. I read it for the first time (long over due!) last summer in anticipation of the movie’s release. I already knew that the director, Peter Jackson, was adding characters and scenes to the film that weren’t in the book but came from other writings Tolkien did about Middle Earth. Fair enough. Then I heard that Frodo was in it. That worried me a little, but I reserved any judgement until I saw it.

I can see why Jackson added what he did, for the most part. However, there were some choices made that I’m not a fan of. So let’s begin…

The movie opens with the Shire and Bilbo as seen at the beginning of Fellowship of the Ring. (Well played there. For us giant nerds, when we someday have a full weekend in our Hobbit costumes and Elf ears watching the epic 6-movie marathon, this will tie all the films together nicely, making “An Unexpected Journey” and the two sequential films feel like a giant flashback of fun!) Soon it fades to Bilbo in his younger years (Martin Freeman!) and the story of The Hobbit actually begins.

Over all, I enjoyed the movie a lot. It was fun! Martin Freeman(!) was an excellent choice for Bilbo. I was skeptical about Richard Armitage as Thorin, however I think that’s because I had pictured Thorin older. In the end, I think he did a good job and looking forward to him going crazy in the third movie (not really crazy…but……. crazy… you know?…. No?!?! Go read the book! You’ll read it faster than it takes to watch these movies, and then you’ll know what I mean.) The rest of the cast did swimmingly. I even liked the voice acting of the trolls – although that was a surprise. I wasn’t expecting them to speak so well.

My favourite scene was the riddle game between Bilbo (Martin Freeman!) and Gollum. I loved that scene in the book and I think they did an amazing job portraying it in the film. My one issue with that scene was the unmotivated lighting. It takes place at the bottom of the mountain and it looks like someone left the lights on in the kitchen. In the book it was described as pitch black but you could see Gollum’s glowing eyes (creeeepy!). I understand that you need some light to be able to see the scene, but it was too much for my taste. Yes, it looks cool, but it pulled me out of the film.

Also worth mentioning is that Gollum looked the best he has ever looked! AMAZING work and lots of kudos to the team at Weta. You guys did a steller job! And I’m talking about on all sides: modelling, texturing, lighting, rendering, and animation! His acting was perfect…so props also to the rigging folks, unsung heroes of the animation teams.

There are scenes, especially through the beginning, that feel out of place and random. It’s as if there should be a “And now for something completely different!” Monty Python sign to warn us. This is especially the case with the scene with Radagast, the Great Brown wizard (who wasn’t originally in the book). I would take a guess that he was a character Jackson really liked, and therefore Jackson wanted him in his movie – like a child wanting ALL THE TOYZ! – and because no one can say “no” to THE GREAT AND POWERFUL PETER JACKSON, Radagast was put in the movie….but the entire time he’s on screen, I don’t hear anything he’s saying…all I hear is “birdpoo.birdpoo.birdpoo.” because that’s all I see! The encrusted bird poo on the side of his face… Ew? Very yes. He also seemed less like a great wizard, and more like the crazy hobo with too many pets. To top it off, Tedward (my awesome husband) thought his bunny-sled was rather silly(…but I kind of liked it…shhhhh).

And lastly, I’m hoping that the Dwarfs’ personalities will be expanded and developed more in the next two films, as I felt this was really lacking. I mean, he’s got the time, why not use it on character development?

In the end, my nit-picky issues won’t keep me from watching this again, and I think that everyone should go see it. It’s a fun movie, and I really look forward to seeing the next two films.