Good literature put on film.

Rating: Null/10 (28 February 2013)

*Spoiler/plot- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, 2012. Part one of two. Gandalf and some dwarfs enlist Bilbo Baggins to go on an adventure to reclaim the dwarfs ancestral mountain kingdom and their immense treasure of gold & precious gems. They were displaced 60 years before by the hated fire-breathing dragon that rules in Middle Earth.
*Special Stars- Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blacnhett, Andy Serkis, Sylvester McCoy, Christopher Lee.
*Theme- Adventures are ways to learn about life and find new friends, be open to it.
*Trivia/location/goofs- First part of a two part film. Exteriors filmed in the director's home country of New Zealand. Look for many crossover characters and plot connections to the Lord of the Ring trilogy saga (that takes place in a time-line after this Bilbo adventure).
*Emotion- An optically stunning film full of new characters, places, and plot twists. Slighty slow in starting to set the premise of the new Middle Earth to viewers, but then the journey is full of drama, pathos and action. This film has more scary scenes and has some very graphically hand-to-hand battle violence. It is more violent than the previous LOTR trilogy. (Parents of young children should take note. This is not a Disney kiddie film.) My favorite scene that was particularly well done in this film was when the Eagles rescue the entire group from a pack of wolf riding attacking trolls on a high mountain cliff. I found this film to be not as watchable as the LOTR trilogy, but worth your time especially if you read the book. Good literature put on film.