(MINOR SPOILERS). I have seen the previous movie and TV incarnations of The Hobbit decades ago – sloppy, horrible messes, and could never figure out why they turned out so bad. The book told a fairly simple and very personal story of one person’s journey into something bigger than himself, in finding reserves and strength he would never have know that he had, of a cleverness and ability to think on this feet, of a hero emerging out of a common man… So why did the previous terrible movies even get made?? One was a silly cartoon, stripped of any deep emotion or sense of dreadful urgency, and that other one that was so filled with horrible special effect battles, and very little else, as it they were the whole story.
So. Now, on to Peter Jackson’s interpretation…
After the grandiose vision presented in LOTR, I expected an epic. I expected gorgeous vistas. I expected great special effects and creepy critters. What I did not expect was the humor, the up close and personal aspects of the book coming alive in very capable actors’ eyes.
Ian McKlellan seemed a less sure wizard, a bit more watchful and uncertain of the outcome. Martin Freeman as Bilbo was spot on in his quizzical and comical reactions to the unfolding events. Time was spent getting to know these characters, and most of them got enough screen time to bring them alive, to see the different personalities emerge. They were engaging and fun, powerfully evil (although… is it just me, or did the pale orc just keep ordering his minions to kill/go after/behead our heroes, even though he was standing right there? Seems kinda cowardly to me), majestically ethereal (Kate Blanchette’s Galadriel was perfect; the costuming, the lighting, everything was simply gorgeous), strange and compelling, outrageously difficult and campy.
At 169 minutes, it drags a little in a few places, but quickly steers back on course. Bilbo’s introduction to Gollum was brilliantly creepy and funny, and felt very important, as we all know it was. The riddle scenes and Gollum's facial expressions were priceless!
The special effects were very nearly perfect; the big critters had mass and weight and various realistic skin conditions, each of them was individual, no cookie cutter CGI monsters here! The battles were well lit so discerning what was happening was much easier than in much of LOTR, which at times seemed to be an endless gore-fest.
There were some places where the special effects took over the movie (the thunder mountain scene is one) to no real purpose other than to put the band of travelers in jeopardy and show off technical skill.
The size differences of the various main characters were seamlessly executed, and after the first few minutes of the movie, I forgot about them and just immersed myself in the film… although the Bilbo’s (and Frodo’s) big hairy feet still looked like a bad toupee had been stapled to a slab of heavy inflexible plastic with barely carved toes.
It has been decades since I have read the Hobbit and LOTR. I have heard that there were changes in this, the first part of what appears to be a trilogy based on The Hobbit, but the story line seems intact and clear; whatever changes there were did not seem to distract from the movie experience. Except the cloak, I did miss the cloak; it seemed weird that Bilbo could just duck down and suddenly no one notices him anymore.
Engaging, fun, intense, epic and personal, I give The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey an 8.5 out of 10. I am very much looking forward to Part II!
