A Promising Start

Rating: 6/10 (15 December 2012)

Fortunately, the first installment of the adaptation of JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit works. Peter Jackson, who directed the Lord of the Rings trilogy a decade ago, comes back to try and tell the more whimsical tale of Bilbo Baggins, dwarfs, and a dragon. Unfortunately, This first in a new trilogy has at least several flaws that it must overcome before things get good.
This movie only covers the first third of Tolkien's book, so we see no dragon—except glimpses in flashbacks. The movie begins with Ian Holm, portraying the old Bilbo, talking about his adventure, and setting it up nicely with a tale of how Smaug the dragon came to take over the Lonely Mountain from the dwarfs. However, this dual cameo from Holm and Elijah Wood (back as Frodo) is completely unnecessary, and really not interesting. However, once we get to the real story, things start to perk up. Gandalf asks the young Bilbo if he would share in an adventure, and later on the grumpy stay at home hobbit has his home overrun with dwarfs. This dinner party drags on a little too long in its attempt to introduce all 13 dwarfs, of which only 4 or 5 stand out as fully formed characters. However, the unexpected party does provide a good deal of interesting exposition, and the introductions of the characters really help to bring an emotional depth to the movie. They eventually set out on their journey, and things get much more fast paced.
Martin Freeman is fantastic as the young Bilbo, and carries the movie through its good and bad parts. Freeman captures the essence of the titular character, giving him a grumpy and perpetually annoyed feeling that works quite well. Ian McKellen returns as the wizard Gandalf, and his presence welcome and reassuring. Other returning actors, such as Hugo Weaving as Elrond and Cate Blanchett as Galadriel are very unnecessary but quite good. The movie also features the wizard Radagast the Brown, played by Sylvester McCoy. Radagast is a welcome portion of the film, giving it the lightheartedness the movie needs more of.
Andy Serkis also returns, in motion capture form, as the creature Gollum. The scene between Bilbo and Gollum is certainly the highlight of the movie, and Serkis gives a fantastic performance. The game of riddles that the two engage in is done with equal measure of grace and suspense.
The faults of the film lay mostly with the script. Director Peter Jackson's decision to split the two part film into a trilogy created a lot of room for what seems to be things that really don't matter. As a result, the movie lacks the urgency and quick pace that the book has. However, Jackson seems to be making a trilogy that is much more a prequel to The Lord of the Rings than it is an adaptation of the whimsical and less-all-encompassing children's book.
Jackson's directing is much less maximal than it was in his previous venture to Middle-Earth. Instead, Jackson focuses on the magical elements of the world; using expressive backdrops, and having the forests and mountain caves glisten with wonder and danger. Even Gandalf is more magical than he ever was in Rings. The colors are bolder and more on the forefront. As a result, the juxtaposition between light and dark becomes an intricate part of the movie. Even the Ring glistens with ridiculous shininess. Jackson has come out of his slump of bad movie making (2005's King Kong and the miserable Lovely Bones), and now comes almost to the heights he reached when making the Rings trilogy. Unfortunately, he doesn't quite make it. At least not in this installment.
This reviewer didn't see it in 3D, or in the new 48 frames per second, and that more than likely works in this movie's favor. Jackson may think these things are the wave of the future, but certainly the nuisance of 3D outweighs the slight benefit of watching a movie turn into a pop up book.
The movie is certainly flawed, but it is also very promising. Once all the bullcrap is cleared out of the way, the movie really soars in its fantastical way. The sequels should (hopefully) be even better. Throughout the movie, we get a taste of the places to come; the forest of Mirkwood, the town of Dale, the Lonely Mountain in the distance, and even a glimpse of Smaug. All of these things look very promising, and An Unexpected Journey delivers a decent amount of goods itself. The movie may not be a great success, but it is, after all, only the first act. So, if you can forgive the filmmakers for splitting the story up into three movies, the first installment of The Hobbit is really damn good.