Small in size, big in achievement.

Rating: 8/10 (3 January 2013)

'The Hobbit' is a novel written by J.R.R. Tolkien, consisting of less than 300 pages - significantly smaller in size than the three Lord of the Rings books.
So when Peter Jackson decided to anchor the adaption of the book in three two hour plus parts, I was left a little speechless. Avergaing around 99 pases per film, fans would be forgiven for fearing that scenes would feel too stretched and overcooked. Thankfully though this doesn't affect the film too much.
Peter Jackson is an avid fan of making his films attractive due to the background colours and landscapes entailed in his productions. Like, 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy and 'The Lovely Bones', this is certainly full of colour and like Jackson's predecessor's visually stunning. From the evergreen countrysides, to the enormous forests, to the underground lake, 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' has some fabulous background settings and environments.
One of the main positives however is leading actor Martin Freeman. Freeman is Bilbo Baggins (60 years before 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring), a quiet hobbit who lives by himself in the shire, preparing to leave his comfort zone for a journey of war and anguish. His calm and careful approach to matters is rather humorous yet relatable to for many a person and he is able to recapture the feel Elijah Wood did as Frodo in the original trilogy.
Back up cast is also excellent with Richard Armitage and the great Ian McKellen the pick of a fine set of actors. Armitage portrays Thorin, a type of person who will not think before his actions but will be willing to fight for a cause while McKellen's Gandalf is a much more assured character, with the ability to make up for Thorin's mistakes.
Also, Gollum (voiced by Andy Serkis) makes a cameo appearance towards the latter end of the movie. This freshens up the film due to his psychopathic humour and insanity whilst making connections to 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy set 60 years later.
The downsides are that the scenes do feel a little prolonged and appear to have been stretched to the maximum. Had there been several adjustments, 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' could have probably lasted at least an hour less with by just sticking to the basic source material.
Overall however, 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' is truly an epic, even if it's inferior to its predecessors.