An Expected Disappointment

Rating: 7/10 (16 June 2013)

I tried defending this film to my friends after seeing this. I told them that it's based on a children's book and is supposed to be whimsical. I told them that it has its fair share of cool fantasy battles and beautiful visuals. It was a return to the world we all loved, Peter Jackson's rendition of Middle Earth: we saw familiar places and characters that brought back memories of old times.
Of course I wanted to think the best of this long-awaited film. The truth is, it doesn't really deserve it on its own merits. It's based on a great book and is a prequel to great films, but the context is most of what it's got going for it. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is very long and very light on content. We get endless throwbacks to the previous films, endless CGI landscapes and endless CGI fight scenes with unbelievably stupid stunts. Probably more than half of the film is exposition, and it still doesn't manage to explain everything (where is Thror's ring, for example?) This is not a faithful adaptation. It is not really even faithful to the original Peter Jackson movie trilogy's spirit. The mood swings wildly and without purpose: one minute the exiled dwarven king broods over his lost kingdom, the next an old stoner dude rushes through the forest with his rabbit sled to save a hedgehog.
Visually the film is OK. It's drenched in a golden light that kind of starts to lose its charm when you see so much of it - the same goes for Howard Shore's gorgeous score. I didn't really like the design of the orcs and the wargs as much as in the original films.
Martin Freeman is a good choice for Bilbo, though his usual manners get a bit old after three hours. Ian McKellen as Gandalf is obviously brilliant, and Richard Armitage has a profound air of authority and silent grace about him as Thor the dwarf lord. I liked the dwarfs overall, and it was interesting to see Rivendell and the proud elves from their perspective, when we're used to being on the elves' side.