Not Lord of the Rings but the Hobbit

Rating: 7/10 (18 February 2019)

These films are understandably very divisive, I've heard people who hate them, I've heard people who prefer them to the LotR films and I personally don't fall into either of those camps. I think these films are good, not very good or great but good. Some moments rival scenes from that of the Lord of the Rings films like Gollum and Bilbo's riddle game or any scene with Smaug from the 2 sequels but when it comes to consistency these films do fall a bit short. Martin Freeman lends his timid self to Bilbo excellently making for one of the most engaging and likeable performances in the whole Middle-Earth series. Ian McKellen is back and is (almost) as good as ever but I can't help but feel he is slightly off at times. The dwarves are for the most part likeable but few stand out as scene stealers. the CGI is a mixed bag, it's sometimes excellent and always good but can be a little overwhelming at times as opposed to the balance that the LotR films offered for the most part. There is a lot of padding which has been criticised by viewers and another point of concern is why there is 3 films for one book but all the padding in the film is in the books and anyone who has read the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings know that the Hobbit is a lot more dense than any of the LotR books in terms of how much story it fits in its pages. At the end of the day the Hobbit is it's own series that fell victim to high expectations and association with the masterful trilogy that came a decade prior. If you can separate the two and enjoy fantasy I think you will have a good time. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey gets a 7.5 from me.