A start

Rating: 7/10 (1 February 2014)

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey review
The Hobbit is an fantasy film made in 2012, it is directed by Peter Jackson. Its written by Peter Jackson and his long term co-writers: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Guillermo del Toro, who originally was chosen to direct the film until he resigned from the project in 2010. This film is only the first of a three part series of films about the book which was wrote in 1937 by J.R.Tolkien, the second film will be called 'The Desolation of Smaug' and following that will be 'There and Back Again'. The follow ups are set to be released in 2013 and 2014. It premiered in New Zealand on the 28th of November and was released all over the world on the 13th December 2012. The movie is set sixty years before 'the Lord of the Rings', the story is about the hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman, not Morgan) who is hired by the wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) to go with thirteen dwarfs, led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage). The dwarfs, the wizard and the hobbit go on a adventurous quest across Middle Earth, from Bilbo's home in the Shire to Thorin's home of Erebor. Thorin is the rightful king of Erebor but the kingdom was burned to a crisp by Smaug the dragon, which led them into a battle with elves in which his father and grandfather died. Thorin wants to reclaim Erebor back to his family, Smaug stands in the way but first they must get to the lonely mountain, which is a massive challenge anyway. I'll be honest, don't shun me, I can't remember when I last watched Lord of the Rings and I can't remember the plot which is why I was a bit sceptical on whether I would understand the plot, the characters, etc. So there I sat, in between snacking film-viewers in my comfortable seat which led me to the question "would I fall asleep? And if I did how would I manage to review it?" I came to the conclusion that I wouldn't, well I couldn't could I? When the movie started I loved it, the opening battle was epic, trolls, dwarfs, giants, fire, earth, water, blood, guts, tears and beards...everything! More specifically everything you expect from the Lord of the Rings. After that scene, the tempo slowed down as you would expect when you're describing a peaceful hobbit's life, things became quite boring until Gandalf and his crew showed up which brought some life back into the film. But it didn't really kick in until they all set off on their journey, from then on its madness, nothing is left uncovered even a nature loving wizard (I know right!?) Then about three fifths of the way through most of the viewers-including me- became a bit restless, after all its a massively long film! Which is probably normal for avid Lord of the Rings fanatics, but not for the average viewer, that would be my biggest criticism. However, the film requires you're attention constantly otherwise you won't fully understand the plot for the rest of the film, this would be impossible to keep your focus fully on a movie for nearly three hours normally but the breath-taking graphics and destinations make it easier, honestly they're awesome the only better graphics I've seen are the ones on 'the Amazing Spider-Man'. They're the best part about the movie because everything requires a stunning view and the creatures there need putting together piece by piece on computer and when you think about the attention to detail on each character it's scary how hard it would be to make. Well done to everyone who worked on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, it was good even to those who weren't familiar with Lord of the Rings. And may I just add "thhheee preeeeeecccious!" RATING 7.9/10
Best parts: First battle Riddles with Golumn (that should seriously be a game-show!) Bilbo Baggins being accepted