Perfect!

Rating: 10/10 (17 December 2012)

Watching The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in a movie theatre was undoubtedly the best experience i've ever had watching a movie. I watched it in the regular 2D 24fps, and it was extremely immersive. The visuals were crystal clear and the special effects where superb. I wasn't sure if Peter Jackson would be able to make hordes of CGI characters and settings look believable, but he sure does! The CGI characters look just as real as the live action actors and the settings are really beautiful to behold. I could seriously watch a 3 hour movie set in solely Rivendell it looked so incredible.
All of the actors were perfect in the movie. Martin Freeman does the character of Bilbo so much justice that I feel he was born to play the role. He nails Bilbo's bumbling, fussy nature at the beginning of the movie and seamlessly transitions into a brave adventurer as the movie goes on. His timing with line delivery is perfect as are his interactions with the other characters, particularly Gollum. Speaking of Gollum, Andy Serkis has outdone himself yet again. When Gollum first appeared on screen, everyone in the movie theatre gasped at once, knowing we were all in for some acting gold. Although Gollum is only in the movie for about 15 minutes altogether, those 15 minutes are some of the most memorable in the movie. Gollum's interactions with Bilbo are more lighthearted on a whole than in the LOTR movies, because Gollum has not yet been consumed by the loss of the Ring, although he does have his moments of violent schizophrenia (MY PRECIOUS!!!). With the enhanced CGI since the LOTR movies, Gollum looks more real than ever. The famous game of riddles is extremely entertaining and funny as well! But when Gollum loses his ring, he instantly shifts back to the foul creature he was in LOTR, highlighting Serkis' acting skills even more. Ian McKellen reprises his role as Gandalf and does an incredible job. Gandalf has a larger and more physical role in this movie than in any of the LOTR movies, fighting and casting awesome spells regularly, yet still shows his wise and caring sides when interacting with the other characters in calmer settings. Another actor that surpassed my expectations in this movie was Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield. He really nails being a really tough guy and respected leader through the movie and in some of his scenes, you can't help but think 'he is extremely cool'. As for the 12 other dwarfs in the movie, they are excellent too. I can't necessarily pick out certain things about every one because there are so many,but as a group they really shine at being a merry yet fierce group of warriors. People may complain about the cameos in the movie, but I think they add to the whole experience. It was good seeing Frodo again, even if it was for 2 minutes, as well as Saruman and Galadriel. What I like about these cameos is that they all have a purpose in the movie, they're not just thrown in there for the sake of it. Even though they may not be in the book, they really do help to enhance the story. The final character I will talk about is Radagast. Radagast brings a new, strange colour to the movie and like the other characters that aren't in the book, enhances the story, Radagast extremely so. His character explores the rise of Sauron (or the Necromancer), which I found really interesting. On the whole, all of the actors in the movie did a superb job; when you're watching the movie, you completely forget your watching actors and feel totally invested in the characters.
The movie stays absolutely true to the book, with more scenes and characters put in by the movie writers to make the story even better. The screenplay writers for this movie did a really fantastic job on the script. Scenes in the book that may have been a few sentences long are explored in high detail in the movie, and it is very interesting to watch. At no point when I was watching this movie did I feel it dragged or that scenes where put in just to increase the running time. Every piece of dialogue - including the newly written parts and story lines for the movie - matter, and really contribute to the epic scale and immersive-ness of the movie.
This movie was so incredible that it has encouraged me to create an IMDb account and write my first ever review; I just needed to express how good this movie is! I plan on watching it in a movie theatre again and trying out all of the different formats it was released in. If you are planning on watching this movie for the first time, I recommend watching it in 2D 24fps first, just to fully appreciate the supreme acting,visuals and story without anything that could hinder the experience. The movie is so engaging and exciting that when the credits started to roll I still wanted to see more; I didn't want to leave Middle-Earth yet! The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey really does take you on a journey from the Shire, to Rivendell, to the heart of a huge orc city and more! When the action starts it never lets up; not only are the action sequences exciting and incredible to watch, you genuinely want the characters to succeed as well, which is something some movies fail to get from the viewers.
Everything about this movie; the acting, visuals, settings, story, action and cast - is perfect.