The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, released in 2012, is a live action adaptation of the first half of J.R.R. Tolkien's novel, The Hobbit. The film starred Martin Freeman as Bilbo, Ian McKellen as Gandalf, and Richard Armitage as Thorin, along with a cast of 12 other Dwarves, Elves, Trolls, Ocs, Goblins, and other fantastic characters. I first saw this film in the theater with my sister, and having been a fan of the Hobbit, I spent a large portion of the very long movie thinking, "What The Fuck!" Let me explain, this is supposed to be a film adaptation of Tolkien's novel that he wrote as a children's book for his son. I first of all was very confused on why such a simple, and not that long at that book would be a trilogy. So this film has parts of the novel in it, but it is filled with so much backstory that either came from the appendix to Return of the King, and bits from other Tolkien sources, and some just fabricated for what reason is beyond me. This film tries too damn hard to be a part of the Lord Of The Rings series, and doesn't try hard enough to be the Hobbit. It's like Peter Jackson and company had read the Hobbit, and just decided, well that was quaint, how about we add this and this and this and this and this....and the actual store gets lost in the mountain of added shit, that Peter Jackson and is co-writers deemed more important than the actual book they were making a movie of. It takes a good half hour or more for the story that is in the book to actually begin, there is so much bullshit added that has no reason or purpose. Seriously at this point why even bother calling the movie The Hobbit, and why not just go ahead and make the Silmarilion or the Book Of Lost Tales, or some other Middle Earth based mythology, because obviously they didn't seem very interested in making a film adaptation of The Hobbit...but I digress. So how did the film look? Well the sets are breath taking, and probably have done well in helping boost New Zealand's tourist trade. Seriously though, the sets are absolutely breathtaking. The film is wonderfully cast, all of the actors play their roles exceedingly well, and I feel that Martin Freeman is absolutely perfectly cast as Bilbo, and interestingly enough I find similarities in his portrayal of Biblo and his portrayal of Arthur Dent in Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, both characters have some similar traits which is something I never noticed until now. However, this film and most of Peter Jackson's later movies featured A LOT of CGI effects, some of which works, and looks beautiful, and others like the ending sequence with Smaug opening his eye in the mountain of gold, (on a 4K HD television) looks like a video game cut scene, it just looks fake and digitally animated, and not real at all, it is a bit jarring after seeing the rest of the movie. There are other bits too where the CG just looks like shit, and I have a feeling that looking back on this film in the future that the CGI will not hold up, and the film will become laughably bad. So the look of the film is honestly a mixed bag, at some points absolutely beautiful, and at others you start to wonder who dropped the ball. The music, is beautiful, and I do love that they take lyrics directly from the novel, and make it into these beautiful moving songs. I will say that the music department did amazing work on this film, even better than the Lord Of The Rings. The music also helps to set the epic high fantasy theme of the film, and is nearly perfect. I want to talk a bit about Peter Jackson, I find his story interesting, this is the same director who brought us b-horror gross out films such as Meet The Feebles, Bad Taste, and Dead Alive. He made some of the bloodiest films of all time, and cheap low budget horror films. I am a big fan of his early work. Then out of nowhere came the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, which set him up as a very huge name in Hollywood, and he then did King Kong and now the Hobbit Trilogy. It is so interesting seeing a director go from release low-budget horror to releasing some of the biggest budget films on earth. I guess it is a lesson in following your dreams or something. I do like how he gives so much back to his homeland of New Zealand, by filming these huge budget epics there, and promoting it, I respect that honestly. I will say I have a lot of respect for Peter Jackson. Would I recommend this film? Have your read the book? Then yes but with a gain of salt, expect to not see an adaptation of the book, but hours of extra material that isn't in the book. Have you not read the book? Then yes, but I don't want you to watch it thinking that this is what the book is like, or the book may seem a little intimidating to read, when in reality it is a very easy book to read and written for children and young adults. I am not sure what audience they were going for, because fans of the book, want to see the book, not a bunch of extra crap that the filmmakers think is more important than what was actually written, or are they going for people who are unfamiliar with the book and just looking for an epic fantasy adventure with a lot of eye candy. I mean all in all a good film, but very flawed, and I feel very confused in what it is trying to do.