Tour de force

Rating: 9/10 (16 February 2013)

The Hobbit is considered by many to be the finest work of fantasy ever written. Worldwide, somewhere between 35 and 100 million copies of The Hobbit have been sold since it was published in 1937. This is a book that has sparked the imaginations of many young people and become somewhat of a cultural force.
"The Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey" is the first in what is to become a Hobbit trilogy. Even if you don't particularly like the LOTR movies, or enjoy fantasy fiction as a rule, you will enjoy this movie. It's easy to follow, humorous, exciting, curious, and outright beautiful at times.
It's absolutely astonishing what filmmakers are able to do now with computer graphics. But this movie is much more than just that. Something is different about this movie. I can't put my finger on it. Is it the character development? The writing? Peter Jackson and his team have developed to the point where they seem to breathe life into the story and its characters. It's nothing less than cinematographic artistry and craftsmanship. The scenes with the Great Goblin and the Gollum in particular were astonishing. I've never seen anything like that on film before. The acting skills of Humphries and Serkis shine through these computer-generated characters.
It helps that Tolkien's imagination and writing lay behind it all. To be honest, I was not that impressed by the LOTR movies. This is by far the best Tolkien movie they've made so far. Jackson et al. have done this classic justice.
Ten is not an extreme score in the circumstances, but I have a few quibbles about various small things not worth mentioning. All in all, I was thoroughly entertained by this film.