Pretty but no masterpiece. Jackson reinvents The Hobbit to suit his pocket, not our expectations

Rating: 7/10 (14 December 2012)

While Peter Jackson is a fine director, he is emphatically not Tolkien or the authority on Middle Earth.
As with TLOTR trilogy, Jackson has given himself carte blanche over Tolkien's world. We all knew long ago that Jackson decreed Galadriel should feature in his adaptation of The Hobbit despite her absence from its 270(ish) pages, and it was to be expected he'd write Frodo back into the tale so as to bring back the star power of Elijah Wood and allow Ian Holm a cameo as the senior Bilbo Baggins. But Saruman? And Radagast? However, whilst for purists such meddling is unnecessary, Radagast the Brown is an enjoyable and beautifully crafted addition. Let's not forget that Tolkien wrote The Hobbit for children and not for cynical grown-ups or demanding fanboys. Sylvester McCoy embraces the role with humour and is absolutely delightful as Middle Earth's great eccentric.
There has been very vocal criticism of Jackson's decision to shoot at 48 frames per second rather than the standard 24fps and claims the result looks artificial. Twaddle! If we're going to criticize Jackson for The Hobbit, and I will, let's do so over the genuine issues and not for a technical decision that definitely enhances the clarity and vastly reduces the juddering on the panoramic sweeps. New Zealand, sorry, Middle Earth, looks absolutely stunning (top marks again to DoP Andrew Lesnie) and I can't wait to see it in 2D to appreciate it fully without the gimmicks of today's third dimension.
The biggest issues here are pace. It so often feels protracted beyond reason; the clear result of a team thinking of their bank accounts rather than the needs of the novel. The meeting of the council at Rivendell plods like a committee meeting and even the first act takes its time to develop into a film, whereas we meet the dwarfs within a mere 6 pages in the novel and begin the adventure swiftly afterwards.
Jackson seems to have forgotten the gravitas of his original trilogy and has spiced up The Hobbit with slapstick routines rather than occasional, naturally humorous quips. The trolls around the campfire sequence will certainly entertain your youngest children, and those who tend to dribble while they watch, but for discerning viewers it's another moment to look around the auditorium.
I cringed at the announcement that Martin Freeman had been cast as Bilbo. Entertaining as he was in The Office and Sherlock he is an actor of limited range and there is far too much Freeman and too little Holm in his performance. The odd gesture aside, it requires a great suspension of disbelief to imaging this Bilbo Baggins will become TLOTR's Baggins in a mere 60 years. Why oh why didn't Jackson bring in the CGI bods from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to de-age the flawless Holm instead of subjecting us to the hopeful but inadequate Freeman? As with TLOTR, careers will be substantially enhanced by The Hobbit, and chief amongst those will be that of Richard Armitage who draws the attention as Thorin far more than Freeman can manage as the titular character. Whilst the band of dwarfs work well together and are perhaps the greatest part of the film, they are an ensemble and it is difficult to single out a performance from their group. It isn't an issue for the Great Goblin, a character that is as thoroughly enjoyable as he is hideous, played with gusto by Barry Humpfries.
The showpiece character, at least until Smaug arrives, is undoubtedly Gollum and the price of admission is worth it purely for his scenes with Bilbo in the gloom as they riddle for either safe passage or a hobbit-sized meal. It is astounding that the AMPAS has not seen fit to create a 'Vocal & Motion Capture Actor' category at the Oscars and that Andy Serkis has not won it at least three times. Incidentally, Serkis also undertakes second unit director duties on all three Hobbit films, perhaps in preparation for his directorial debut, Freezing Time.
Flaws aside, The Hobbit is a sumptuous visual feast. It demands your attention in a quiet cinema with a vast screen. Don't be put off by the criticisms and decide to wait for it on DVD. The criticisms are perhaps so sharp because we now expect so much more from Peter Jackson. It may not match TLOTR but it is fun, it is beautiful, it is worth the effort to see it and, at times, it is actually quite affecting. In Bag End, as Bilbo slinks off to bed stubbornly refusing to join the quest, the dwarfs sing Misty Mountains and it is an unexpectedly touching moment that takes us closer to the brilliance of TLOTR than almost any other moment in The Hobbit. And the end titles song, Song of the Lonely Mountain, performed by Neil Finn (of Split Enz and Crowded House) is a strong contender for an Oscar after Annie Lennox's success with Into the West. And it's far, far more deserving than Adele's repetitive dirge, Skyfall.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is a good film. But it isn't great and it jolly well should be with the money, time and talent that has been thrown at it. After each installment of The Lord of the Rings I departed the cinema desperate for the following twelve months to evaporate so I could watch the next part, or for The Hobbit to miraculously appear. Alas, the final scene of The Hobbit feels exactly what it is: an awkward pause that is entirely out of place, and today I departed not desperate for more but frustrated that the job hadn't been completed.
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