The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - review
We love The Lord of the Rings books and we also adore The Hobbit, so when An Unexpected Journey opened in cinemas in December 2012, we were some of the first in line. What is disconcerting about the first film, though, is that in the 11th hour of production it was decided there would not be two films, but three, and rightly so — where The Lord of the Rings trilogy did not cover enough of the beloved books, a Hobbit trilogy would surely cover the entire book, and more. And, so far, it does.
An Unexpected Journey is not a bad film and is very similar to The Fellowship of the Ring in that, predictably, it begins the journey — it has to be there but, in retrospect, not a great deal happens in the movie.
What it lacks, as opposed to The Fellowship of the Ring, is the sense of empathy for our unlikely hero. What’s so endearing about the book is that Bilbo is thrown into this adventure, despite his protestations and best efforts, and much alike Frodo in The Fellowship, we ache for his well being. But in An Unexpected Journey, we know that Bilbo will be fine and there is rarely a moment that we fear for him.
The film’s cinematography and set design are, as expected, breathtaking. Taken from previous director Guillermo del Toro‘s visionary set design, though not doing his dark imagery justice, Peter Jackson delivers great cinematic scope and amazing visuals.
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