The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Movie Review

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey follows title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior Thorin Oakenshield. Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain, first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever... Gollum. Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of guile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum's "precious" ...a simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know. -- (C) Warner Bros

[ThesGamingGuy]

I saw The Hobbit last night and was totally blown away. Since Peter Jackson directed this movie I knew the movie would be freaking good but the quality of acting, lots of action the movie was better than i expected. I was shocked to find out New Line Cinema was considering not having Peter Jackson direct The Hobbit movies and that would have been a very very dumb move in their part.

[sensur]

As somone who read The Hobbit as a teenager and then subsequently LOTR, i say that this movie really caught the essence of the book. The movie is more cheerfull, colorful and fast-paced compared to LOTR, which i think is fitting since the book also is lighter and more "cheerfull" than LOTR. The 48 FPS was distracting at first but i was surprised how quickly i got used to it. I give this movie an 9\10 as it for me, really captured the feelings i had when i read the hobbit for the first time.

[madi]

I love the fact that they wanted to make the fans happy and not the general public, who isn't too much into the saga anyway. Hollywood can play the part of pleasing everyone. Kudos to Peter Jackson for going the other way.

[digitalis]

I almost never disagree with a review as much as I gave with this one. When i saw it I had only seen the 3 LOTR movies and had the book read to me as a 10 year old, yet I still loved the movie. Then after I saw it the first time I read the book and saw it again. I loved it even more. The movie is so brilliantly close to the book while adding things in to smooth the transition from book to movie. It's fun and fits the feel of the Hobbit as a story.

[Wolfau]

I don't think Fantasy is meant to be an incredibly tight story, I think it's meant to allow you to stop and enjoy fantastical places, creatures, individuals etc.

[ArtemisMS]

I just saw the Hobbit, and I LOVED it. I went in knowing it was 3 hours, but never looked at my watch. I enjoyed every second of it! I'm not a huge Tolkien fan, although I have written on him once. I loved the LOTR trilogy to pieces. I love fantasy as a genre, too. I thought the pacing was good, the music was great, the cinematography was excellent, the acting excellent... really no complaints. In fact I read all the negative reviews and was thus genuinely shocked at how much I loved it.

[GuyFaux]

The frame rate killed it for me. It made this wonderful world look like stage play sets. My other complaint was the look of the dwarfs. Some looked very human and not dwarfish at all. That one had me baffled.

[SkorgeSlaps]

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (the first one) left off with Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas looking for Merry and Pippen while Frodo and Sam walked off into the mountains with NO real resolution, is that a problem too? Because if not, you have no real reason to complain about the end of the Hobbit not having a resolution, in 5 years when all three movies are out, nobody will complain about one not resolving.

[Remus]

I saw this film at my local theatre in 24 frames with 3D, and i'm sure that's the reason why i like this film much more than most. The 48 frame version must be pretty dire that it makes a quite, enjoyable film into a frustrating annoying experience for many, i wasn't pissed off or annoyed at all when watching it. As to the pacing and story, yes An Unexpected Journey didn't have the same feel as Fellowship of the Ring but i did find myself drawn in to the story. It has a more comical &

[iluvwater]

An awesomeee movie! As someone who has read the Hobbit as a kid and loved Lord of the Rings I loved it. I can get why Ben found it long but for someone like me I loved it!

[tavasaikong]

Loved this movie. And if you loved it as well, that's all that matters. So beautifully shot, it was simply a joy to watch. Can't wait for the next two films!!!

[zetsuXitachi]

the movie was amazing. I love how it explored all the different side stories.

[Remus]

Peter Jackson wanted to tell a full bodied story that delved into the journey of Bilbo & the Dwarves but also explore what Middle Earth was like during the peaceful time before the darkness and war of the Rings trilogy. The book does focus solely on Bilbo's journey as little else, while that has good dramatic economy, it does rob the movie of exploring many of the places and people encountered throughout the book.  

[alphacause]

The fact that the opinion has been nearly universal that there is not enough source material to justify a 3 part cinematic treatment of The Hobbit, but Jackson is going to try to stretch it to that length anyway, tells me that making a huge profit is motivating the telling of the story more than creating a tight and engaging narrative. That makes me a bit anxious.

[matchity]

The only screenings for press and critics were at 48fps/3D. We weren't given a 24fps option, unless we waited til it opened (and then the review would be late).

[MrApplewine]

They may need to play with the lighting to make higher FPS recreate an apealing look as 24 fps. I think 24fps was used to effect the lighting. I think you couldn't slow down the motion though, that wouldn't work. It is possible that inserting a flicker into a high fps image may recreate the "veil" effect, without interfering with the motion. I suggest recording at 120fps at 8k.

[ssuuppeerrbbooyy]

People who hate 48fps would still be watching black and white, 8mm film, 15fps, still camera movies if they were deciding the cinema technology progression.

[manicms]

I highly recommend reading through the Hobbit before the second film comes out, it's a fairly short book, and a worthwhile read. If you're adventurous, get into the Silmarillion, which is like a History of Middle Earth.

My favourite part of the Hobbit was probably the Dwarves' song.

[Exdus]

I disagree that this should be taken entirely as a singular movie.
We know this is part one of a trilogy, while the idea of making it into a Television series is not a bad one, who says movies have to be a certain way, and only that way?
We are living in a paradigm shift of video media, and the idea of the Sequelized Films bordering on Serialized Film, is NOT a bad thing, its evolution in form.

[QueenLioness]

There is more wiggle room in creating a storyline and introduction while writing a book than in making a film b/c there are less limitations. You can delve deeper and give more detail into side stories and side plots than you can in making a film.