The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

On Saturday a good friend of mine had a lovely Christmas party.  The party ended early and I was able to catch a 3D showing of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. It was nice to see director Peter Jackson back at it after his successful Lord of the Rings trilogy (J.R.R. Tolkien) concluded in 2003. If his second trilogy, The Hobbit, is only half as successful as his first he will be able to buy his entire native country of New Zealand.

The movie turns the clock back and you begin a new journey with young Bilbo Baggins. The Dwarves have lost their homes to a rough dragon lord, Smaug. Gandalf  (Ian McKellen) decides to help them forge a quest to get it back! Gandalf convinces Bilbo to join him and a party of 13 Dwarves and so begins a new journey through middle earth.

 I felt like the opening scene used way too much CGI. It almost felt like the opening of a Final Fantasy video game. The characters themselves were completely computer animated and I began to worry. However, once the actual actors,set designs, costumes and plot came into the foreground it was a magical journey. Jackson really has a gift of bringing these characters to the big screen in a way only he can. It was good to see all the actors from TLOTR come back for The Hobbit. It holds the continuity of the story and you find comfort in returning to the Shire to see the same faces from the first films.

They will be releasing one each year until 2014 and is worth getting into. The film had about three pretty good 3-D moments. I even saw my girlfriend duck towards the end, so it may be worth it for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

1-10: 8

Improvements: Tone down the CGI. It really comes off as budget in the large fit scenes.

SRC