Everything but Heart

Rating: 5/10 (24 June 2013)

From the very beginning, "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" seemed to be missing something. Despite an all-too-brief appearance by Frodo and the return of several "Lord of the Rings" characters (Bilbo, Gandalf, and others), the story never became very compelling.
Sure, there were some nail-biting scenes, cool special effects and creatures galore but did you really care who won or lost? I didn't. I never felt the attachment to the characters in this film that I felt throughout the LOTR trilogy. I was never "on the edge of my seat" like I was so often during LOTR.
Perhaps 13 dwarfs were just too many to get your head around. Snow White pushed the envelope with Seven Dwarfs, but at least most people could remember seven names. Not so here. How many dwarfs can you remember by name? And don't get me started on creepy creatures! There were just too many of them and they got way too much screen time -- even Gollum. I got the feeling they were deliberately stretching scenes so the movie would play for nearly three hours.
It's not a terrible movie, but it lacks the heart and passion that made Lord of the Rings such a masterpiece.