Review of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) by Mdawg — 14 Dec 2012

The Hobbit: A Relatively Expected Journey.

Peter Jackson has submitted his first installment to the highly anticipated Hobbit Trilogy. Though I was not a huge fan of his previous work LOTR included, I was particularly interested in The Hobbit due to its resonance with me as a child. The book is sublime but the film lacked a certain depth that we have seen Jackson produce before. The acting is fantastic with Martin Freeman's performance being fulfilling and most certainly understated yet the other characters were simply unable to recreate the same level of interest and intrigue as those in the book. One can only hope that these characters are explored further in the sequels. As for the 48 FPS it was beautiful with scenery exploding vividly onto the screen and yet I cannot help but think it was just too much as if looking into an oil painting, thus some of the dialogue and action was lost amongst the various stunning backdrops. Finally and most annoyingly I must mention the length. For what is only a relatively short children's book, I cannot see how 3 films of such considerable length will be able to keep the focus of the audience whilst remaining true to the book throughout. So far so good but I expect more can come from this series and I hope that The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug will not be the unwanted middle child of the trilogy and emulate The Two Towers.