Bit of a let down

Rating: 7/10 (14 December 2012)

I believe that this film did not live up to the expectations placed on it. However, it was in fact a great film. If it was a completely independent franchise i would rate it a lot higher than i have done, but due to the sheer awesomeness of The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, The Hobbit somehow was not as epic and/or thrilling as i originally expected. I do in fact love the storyline and i believe that it has a lot of potential to become one of the great film series' of all time. I think it is a very original film, with not a lot of others being based solely around the main characters going on a 'journey'. This, in a way, makes it somewhat unique, and this is also quite a risk taken by Peter Jackson. He has pulled it off quite spectacularly in my eyes, with the scenery and the land that the hero travels through being utterly breath- taking. I think that the way the book has been almost mirrored in the making of the film, something that is very rare in novel-based films these days, is a breath of fresh air from the majority of completely random and aggravating films that are being made. However, the things that Jackson and the rest of the film-makers did not do well at all, is character development. I felt no connection to any of the 12 dwarfs that featured in The Hobbit. If one of them were to die in the film, i seriously doubt that i would care really, which is something that i think films need. Without an emotional connection to any characters, I found the film to be boring at times, especially during the scenes that were supposed to be emotional. The only dwarf who's life and the story behind him that was explained was Thorin, and this was probably only because he is the leader of the pack. And Thorin, i believe, is not a very likable character until near the end. Another critical point i have is the amount of humour that was in the film. I felt that during the trilogy of The Lord Of The Rings, only a few moments of banter between Legolas and Gimley made me laugh, and i had no problems with this. Some people may disagree and say that more humour is better, but in such an epic and serious franchise as Lotr, i think that adding a touch of humour somewhat decreases this 'epicness'. I felt that the film was too much aimed at younger viewers, and did not stick to its roots of being a serious and action-filled title. Finally, I was disappointed by the cliffhanger ending. Not a good ending to a reasonably uneventful beginning and mid-section. However, in the Lord Of the Rings trilogy, the first and second films were both left with similar endings. Especially The Fellowship Of the Ring. The Ending to that was when Samwise and Frodo sailed away to continue their journey to Mordor and Aragorn, Legolas and Gimley went in search of Merry and Pippins orc captors. Now this is not in fact an exciting end, but the death of Boromir at least made it so that something of interest happened close to the finale. Nothing of such magnitude happened in The Hobbit, with the ending being a simple 'we shall continue our quest' finale. I am hoping that 'The Desolation of Smaug', which is the next instalment in the series, will be more dramatic, and the characters will develop a lot more, if not, then i am afraid that this trilogy will have been some what of a let down, for me anyway.