Too long and drawn out

Rating: 1/10 (19 October 2013)

I have to say, I expected better.It has been nine years since the last of Peter Jackson's critically acclaimed trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, was released. And so many people were excited for this new adaption of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. Sadly this movie seems to fall a little short compared to the others. Now the story is set 60 years before that of LOTR and it is of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins(Martin Freeman, The Office: BBC, Sherlock), who goes off on an adventure with 13 dwarfs and a wizard, Gandalf(Ian McKellen, X-Men, LOTR), on a quest to take back Erebor, home of the dwarfs. Erebor was taken many years earlier by a dragon Smaug, and so he dwarfs are determined to have revenge.
But sadly, their revenge consists of eating long meals and singing depressing songs for the first hour of the movie. This can cause people who have are not faithful to LOTR to be easily bored, and for those who have read the book, even more so. And so after an hour they set off on their journey which consists mostly of walking in front of the New Zealend country side. At one point they encountered trolls, but this scene, much like the trolls themselves, was slow moving and dull.
The rest of the film consisted of some foreshadowing to the LOTR trilogy, boxing matches between stone giants, and Gandalf saving the day more than once. The one scene that saves the movie, however, is between Bilbo and Gollum(Andy Serkis) who also played Cesaer from Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The scene had Gollum's typical split-personality moments, but also gave Martin Freeman a chance to act without being shouted down by multiple dwarfs. The two of them play a game of riddles, and more importantly, Bilbo finding the one ring, which this sets everything else in motion.
Martin Freeman was able to keep the first installment of three afloat, but hopefully the next two will not be long just for the sake of it. With the addition of Evangeline Lily(LOST, Real Steel, The Hurt Locker) as the only female elf I have ever seen, Tauriel(who is not in the books), and Orlando Bloom(Pirates of the Caribbean, LOTR) as Legolas, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug should be much better than the first, and with that said I look forward to this December with more hope than I did this past one.