Fears be gone! You shall not pass!

Rating: 10/10 (14 December 2012)

Being a huge Lord Of The Rings fan (my favourite films of all time) I met the Hobbit with trepidation. Especially after some of the reviews aren't as glowing as they were for the original trilogy.
"It's too long", they moan. Well, not for me – the 169 minutes flew by. Sure, the opening three-quarters-of-an-hour did were spent solely in Hobbiton but, being the first part of a trilogy, it needed to. It was nice being back there, listening to Howard Shore's majestic score and marvelling at the lush (as always) scenery. It was like coming home to an old friend. Ah, the Shire, how cinema's missed you.
"It not as epic as Lord Of The Rings" they bark. Of course it's not, it's not supposed to be! It would be foolish if they tried and replicated the scale of Rings. OK, the ante is ramped-up considerably from the book so it was still pretty epic albeit with a slightly lighter touch, whilst still maintaining the same feel and tone. I was back in Middle Earth.
"They overused CGI!" they cough. Yes, there is a lot of CG but it didn't feel out-of-place (like the Star Wars prequels). The important thing is, the CGI characters actually "perform" which gives them weight. The main big-bad Orc "Azog" grew on me as the film went on and proved to be a great villain that you don't want to see die too quickly (I won't say if he does or not). Which is a good sign.
Martin Freeman was simply superb as Bilbo (no longer "Tim" from The Office) capturing all of Ian Holm's older Bilbo's mannerisms. His comedic timing is impeccable, with just subtle facial reactions being enough to make you smile. Ian McKellan was brilliant as always and praise has to be reaffirmed on Andy Serkis for his performance as Gollum, once more stealing the show. The "Riddles In The Dark" sequence being an absolute triumph. The dwarfs were decent also, even though half of them weren't given much to do (maybe they'll get more in the sequels) the stand-out being Richard Armitage's "Thorin" who made for a suitable hero figure.
Along the way there are plenty of neat touches and nods towards the original trilogy, implying there are darker things to come. The success in this is that it feels like it could've been made alongside the older films. Whereas many sequels/prequels after 10 years can lose the magic and essence of their predecessors, The Hobbit does not. It gets the balance just right.
That's not to say it's a perfect film. There are a couple of silly moments, like the dwarfs surviving a ridiculous fall in the mines and Sylvester McCoy's surplus-to-requirements animal loving Radagast – but those moments make up for about 10 seconds of its near 3 hour run time. And, no, it's not as good as The Lord Of The Rings. But then, it didn't need to be – and nor did I want it to.