Since the new Hobbit movie is coming out pretty soon, I thought it’d be the proper time to review its predecessors. That’s how it usually goes on this blog, isn’t it?
And holy crap, I love this poster.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is the first of the prequel trilogy to the Lord of the Rings films. In case you didn’t know, it’s based off of the novel of the same name. I’m almost done reading the book… I just haven’t picked it up since last February. The idea of turning one book into 3 movies seemed a little odd to people, or even pi$$ them off, but I really can’t understand why they don’t see it as the logical route. All they see it as is an unnecessary ‘cash grabber’. For one thing, there’s so much that happens in the book, and cramming it all into one movie simply wouldn’t do it. The characters wouldn’t be developed at all, the plot would be rushed even faster than The Last Airbender movie, and it would just suck altogether.
Splitting it into 3 movies gives the story more room to develop, and it even gives the filmmakers room for creative license, such as Legolas being in the second movie, or the little romance subplot, or Radagast… or the entire Battle of the 5 Freaking Armies!!! People sure do like to flip out over everything though, so they’ll flip out over those changes, too. What they don’t understand is that the movie isn’t supposed to be a scene for scene, line for line recreation of the novel- and this goes for all adaptations. What the film should do is capture the tone and feel of the book, while still following the novel’s story, sure, but not be a carbon copy. The best example I can come up with has to be Jurassic Park. Did the film have a raft chase scene, or pterosaurs? No. Does that make the film bad? NO! It’s a good movie on its own! That’s why people say it’s “based on” a book instead of “exact clone”.
On to the first film, An Unexpected Journey. It stars Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo is chosen to be a burglar for a mission to help a group of 13 dwarves take back their mountain kingdom that was taken from them by a dragon. The dragon’s name is Smaug (pronounced ‘smowg’, not ‘smog’), and I won’t say much about him until I review the second of the trilogy, The Desolation of Smaug.
The adventure takes a bit of time to get going, but I, myself, have no problem with it. I love longer movies, so long as the content within the runtime keeps me engaged. This film does that. Yes, it takes a while, but it’s not boring and never feels like it’s dragging on for the sake of dragging on. Unlike the book, the film actually gives the dwarves personalities. I can’t remember all their names, though, and some are kinda just there, but they’re not lifeless. They have their moments, and I enjoyed all of them.
The one that shines the most is Thorin Oakenshield. He’s my favorite of the dwarves, and is the most developed of all of them. He’s the heir to the throne of the mountain kingdom, and in order to be the official king he has to get the Arkenstone. The Arkenstone is a shiny jewel thing that… really does nothing. At least, not as far that’s been seen of it in the films. Maybe it does something in the 3rd and final movie? I don’t know. So far, it only seems like the symbol of power rather than actually having power, like the ring of Sauron does. Maybe it was intentionally written that way? People just think it has power, when it’s simply a shiny rock. Took me a couple years to figure that out, it did.
Speaking of the ring of Sauron, this movie shows how Bilbo came into possession of it. In The Lord of the Rings, it only says he randomly found it one day. Never said how he found it. He could have been on a merry stroll through Candyland when he found it, for all we know. The truth is, Bilbo was lost in a goblin cave, and along with the ring, he met Gollum. The scene where Bilbo and Gollum are playing the riddle game was fantastic. I could watch that forever. Also, the motion capture technology used to make Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy has advanced by a LOT, and now Gollum looks even better! Picture perfect! Yet Andy Serkis still did not get an Oscar for that.
The other characters that stand out (only because they matter) are Bilbo and Gandalf. Martin Freeman owns his part of Bilbo. There is no one else on this planet that could ever pull off the role as perfectly as he can. The same thing with Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf. We’ve already seen how great he is in The Lord of the Rings movies, so there was never any doubt that he would be as great here. I’ll even say I like Gandalf in the Hobbit trilogy more than I did in LOTR.
The character that I know didn’t go over well with everyone was Radagast the Brown. I didn’t have a problem with him at all, but I also wasn’t saying “Oh, crap! Radagast is the best! I love that guy! I want his poster!!!”. He’s alright by me. But if you don’t like him, I understand.
Another thing to take note of is the special effects. There is a lot more of CGI in this movie (as well as the other Hobbit films) than LOTR. It doesn’t look bad at all, but it does take away some of the gritty tone that people are familiar with from LOTR. Don’t be under the assumption that An Unexpected Journey and the other Hobbit films are childish and cartoony. They’re far from it. It’s just that The Hobbit novel had a lighter tone than LOTR. The Hobbit was always lighthearted. It still has its serious moments, though.
So, besides the story, special effects, characters, and sense of adventure, what else is there to like about An Unexpected Journey? How about the music?! This score is by far one of my favorite film scores of all time. I absolutely love it! The score gets you in the mood for the adventure. It was the type of music that gets you thinking:
“Yeah, let’s go on a f#%king adventure! Come on! It’s time to go travel through the mountains while a helicopter gets an epic rotating shot of us while this music plays!”
That type of music deserves some credit.
In conclusion, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is one of my favorite adventure films ever. It was the start of an adventure that’s been going on since 2012, and the fact that this adventure is going to be ending in mere days from the time this is posted makes me want to cry. I love An Unexpected Journey. If you haven’t seen it yet, then what the heck are you doing with your life?! The big finale is coming soon and you haven’t even seen the first one? Go watch it! Now!
FINAL RATING: 48 / 50
STORY: 5 / 5
ACTING: 5 / 5
CHARACTERS: 4 / 5
CGI/SPECIAL EFFECTS: 4 / 5
ACTION/ADVENTURE: 5 / 5
SOUNDTRACK: 5 / 5
TONE: 5 / 5
ENJOYABILITY: 5 / 5
REWATCH VALUE: 5 / 5
OWNING VALUE: 5 / 5
After this is my review for The Desolation of Smaug, which, I’ll tell you right now, is one of my favorite movies ever.
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