An unexpected addition to 'the Rings'

Rating: 8/10 (5 September 2014)

I read the book of the Hobbit before the Lord of the Rings. When I was a child, I enjoyed its light-hearted approach at introducing 'Middle Earth.' However, when it came to transferring books to films, the Lord of the Rings was certainly a safer bet when it came to box office returns.
Therefore I didn't know what to expect from this 'prequel,' especially as I - like so many fans - were a little sceptical about how and why the producers felt the need to turn a much smaller book into a three-film epic - almost to try and rival the original trilogy.
The good news is that the look and feel of Lord of the Rings is all there when it comes to sets, special effects and even most of the useable cast have returned to play their respective roles again. All the cast do a fine job of portraying their characters - Ian McKellen finds it easiest to play Gandalf, while Martin Freeman has a harder job of playing not only a younger version of Ian Holm's Bilbo Baggins, but also to add his own touches to the role (which, I'm pleased to say, he pulls off).
However, most people feel they have been proved right about expanding the original source material so much. There is a lot of 'padding' - mainly at the beginning which simply isn't necessary and can start to get a little boring, bringing the pace down considerably.
Then there's the comedy. Only it's not comedy, it's more out-of-place dialogue that seems way too light-hearted to fit in the Lord of the Rings universe. For every epic battle and great touch The Hobbit offers, there are equal amount of moments that make you cringe and just wish would end as quickly as possible.
I hear there's a director's cut coming out soon and that it's going to be even longer. I feel this is one of the rare occasions where a movie would benefit from a SHORTER director's cut. It's not a bad film. I actually quite liked it and enjoyed seeing my childhood book brought to life with a fitting budget. Just, if you're going to watch it repeatedly, you may want to have one hand on the remote control to gloss over some of the less important scenes which really don't matter and just shouldn't be there.
A good film, possibly only not a great film due to the producers trying to add more material than is necessary simply to justify turning the overall story into a new trilogy.
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