Should be called an Unappreciated Journey.

Rating: 9/10 (22 December 2012)

Tolkien's bed time story is revamped in a more epic fashion with Peter Jacksons return to the stunning world of Middle Earth in The Hobbit, a tale of a secluded, comfort loving Bilbo Baggins who prefers his comfort loving home to the perils of adventure with his whole world turning upside down when the wizard Gandalf nudges him into a quest to help a group of dwarfs reclaim their homeland from the dragon Smaug. The story involves the fish out of water character of the reluctant hero Bilbo Baggins trying to find courage he never knew he had. We start with a party before the perils before moving on to encountering the good, the bad and the ugly the world of middle earth has to offer with a slash and dash approach of fighting then running away.
However, The Hobbit should be called an Unappreciated Journey then an Unexpected Journey because of its critical reception. Most of the backlash is unfair, with criticism's involving comparisons to Lord of the Rings and the drawn out narrative that is a slender children's book being divided into 3 movies. Comparing Lord of the Rings to The Hobbit is unfair surely anyone who is aware of the source material would know that, The Lord of the Rings isn't in the same league in a narrative level to The Hobbit. The Hobbit is the younger brother compared to the bolder older brother being the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In fact I thought some of the efforts to connect these 2 stories together were rather distracting with the inclusion of Frodo in the prologue, with ElijahWood delivering his 2 lines of dialogue, collecting his pay check then leaving. It seemed rather self indulgent and pointless. The looming threat of the Necromancer is intriguing however, adding a darker element to a relatively light-hearted journey making the decision of making these 3 films justified if executed correctly. These negative reactions only come off as minor gripes and shouldn't put anyone off watching this film. Jackson has created a true gem of a movie, with its delightfully charming cast of characters delivering brilliantly quirky performances.
Once again Andy Serkis steals the show as the schizophrenic Gollum despite being a feral creature of his forma self there is a real sense of attachment to his character with elements of morbid comedy in Serkis's performance. The Riddles in the Dark scene is defiantly the stand out moment of the film I've never known a game of wits could be so intense! Martin Freeman brings the beloved character of Bilbo Baggins to life with his funny facial expressions and quaint movement. His performance is very relatable much more so the the slightly dreary Frodo in the Lord of the Rings. Sir Ian McKellan provides an enigmatic and a cunningly powerful performance as Gandalf the Grey (which is far more interesting then Gandalf the White in my opinion.) Richard Armitage plays a ruff battle,hardened dwarf determined to reclaim his home from the dragon Smaug(who we only get a teasing glimpse of.) All these performances are stellar apart from the fact that some Dwarfs get more screen time than others but giving every dwarf a chance to stand out is hard amongst this bunch of characters which best works as a rugged team of Dwarfs. One performance that stood out too me as flat out bizarre would be Radagast the Brown and his frantic frolics in the woods with his bunny sled, it made me wonder if someone put LSD in my pepsi. The whimsy, wonder and peril of Howard Shore's Soundtrack also show the sheer range of the films gravitas which resembles the soundtrack of the Rings trilogy.
It's definitely worth going there and back again to your local cinema to witness the wonders of Middle Earth on the big screen despite the strenuous running time.