An Unexpected Journey is a well made adventure film.

Rating: 8/10 (15 December 2012)

An Unexpected Journey is an adaptation of The Hobbit, or There and Back Again written by J. R. R. Tolkien. However, it serves more as a prequel to The Lord of the Rings than an adaptation of Tolkien's book. The film covers the first six chapters of the book, from 'An Unexpected Party' to 'Out of the Frying-Pan Into the Fire'. In addition to the content from the book is other worldly events occurring alongside the hobbit's tale, presented as prelude to the fantastic The Lord of the Rings film series.
The film excels in technical achievements. This film is presented in 48 frames per second for select theaters. This new format for film is subtly different. The motion is smoother and makes the 3D format bearable. The screen is well lit, and the 3D process is not distracting. It does little for the film itself, but it is exciting to see a new format with obvious benefits. The photography and set design is mesmerising. Every location is beautiful. Every set is finely detailed. Middle-Earth looks beautiful. Unfortunately, some of the gorgeous scenes are deteriorated by post-production. There is an inordinate amount of CGI in this film. Certainly much more than its predecessor, and certainly much more than this year's The Dark Knight Rises. This creates a world that is less real, more abstract, and more requiring of a suspension of disbelief. Where once was prosthetic makeup, now a computer graphic replaces a great goblin's face.
The acting in this film varies wildly. The two stars, Martin Freeman as the hobbit Bilbo Baggins and Ian McKellen as the wizard Gandalf, are as good as ever. Freeman's performance gives a strong personality to the main character, even if his screen time is really relatively short. McKellen presents his Gandalf with far more mystery than that seen in The Lord of the Rings. With his top notch performance, he is the carrier of this film. Richard Armitage's Thorin is another noteworthy performance, although sometimes he is perhaps too callous and thoughtless to be believable, and occasionally a tad bit over the top. One last performance worth mentioning is the hammy and ridiculous rendition of the brown wizard Radagast by Sylvester McCoy. It's unfortunate that a figure deemed to be wise and powerful is made into a comic numbskull of no importance.
With plenty of interesting characters, the film falls flat on what it decides to do with them. The characters, including Bilbo, are just there. Any attempts to develop them are quite futile. Bilbo discovers his inner courage. Thorin learns to not judge books by their covers. It is all so elementary. There is no criticism for these developments. There is only criticism for the fact that these developments don't mean much. There could've been more depth to these faces, but there isn't. Perhaps the great exception is the relationship between Gollum and Bilbo, in which Bilbo shows mercy for the beast when he has the opportunity to kill him. Still it is a wonder what the writers were going for. Perhaps some kind of 'kill only when necessary' thing, though the heroes seem to have no remorse for killing orcs. Orcs have no feelings anyways.
So the actual Hobbit story is pretty good. It's unfortunate that there is more than just this simple Hobbit story in the actual movie. There is a subplot of a rather ridiculous orc villain with such a clichéd villain trope that it seems unreal. Also there is the dark and mysterious Necromancer, yet another villain introduced to the series. These are really nothing more than distractions adding to the films length. Sometimes, especially when in relation to the Necromancer, the cuts away from the main story can be so long and over-dramatic you forget what the film is actually about. Perhaps the editor was sick or something. Considering the title, The Hobbit, it is astonishing to see so little of the hobbit.
An Unexpected Journey is a really nice Christmas film. It is fun and entertaining and nothing more. Those who want more have already gotten that from the book anyways.