An adventure that felt a little unnecessary but entertaining and spectacular nevertheless

Rating: 7/10 (15 December 2012)

Its inevitable but to draw comparisons with LOTR trilogy and rightly so. The theme, cinematography, music, some scenes are direct descendants from LOTR with some beautiful 3D visuals. Peter Jackson has played the nostalgia card to brilliant effect leaving a perfect time gap from the previous trilogy. Some scenes may feel redundant, some characters not very well developed and the overall story so far is neither as complicated nor as involving leaving everything to be done by the acting and presentation departments who deliver the goods.
In the Shire, Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) is getting ready for his birthday (the same day as in LOTR: Fellowship of the ring) while finishing up on his book. He recalls the 60 years earlier adventures in his mind with Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and the dwarfs led by Thorin (Richard Armitage) in a fight to reclaim their home. Also recalls his encounter with Gollum (Andy Serkis) and possession of The Ring.
Martin Freeman was cast perfectly and he oozes life into Bilbo while Ian McKellen is as solid and charming as ever. It follows the same theme as the first edition of LOTR with dwarfs, Gandalf and Bilbo forming a fellowship on a mission with a stopover at Rivendell, encounter with Orcs and a sight of the destination at the end. But the mission is less involving and even less adventurous so far, the fellowship does not have the variety of characters and Martin Freeman is not the guy who is made out to root for.
3D effects and CGI are of top quality especially the following scenes > Introduction to the cause for which the dwarfs are fighting for > Zooming to show the ghost warrior > Birds, insects flying towards and away from us. The final scene with the Eagles. > Scenes with Gollum
Also some scenes felt quite unnecessary and forced > Mountain giants fight > The cheesy Orcs king > Unnecessary tension between Thorin and Bilbo does not help to reduce the flatness of screenplay
You haven't seen the actual villain of the story yet, but so far it has been the screenplay. It is flat with no effort to make it intriguing and the climax does not make you to sit up and look forward for the sequel. But it doesn't mean it is not entertaining with one set piece after another and a host of brilliant CGI effects give you more worth than what you paid for. The background score draws a lot of inspiration from the LOTR trilogy and I don't blame any of it except for the song at the end credits.
An adventure that felt a little unnecessary but entertaining and spectacular nevertheless