Movie Review #43 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

- Thirteen dwarves, a hobbit and a tall fella

I'll start by saying I watched this in normal 2d, 24 fps, so I have no comment on the quality of 3d use or high frame rate. This is also the first review after the release of the Oscar nominations and for the remainder of reviews until the Oscars I'll be mentioning the awards they are nominated for as well. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is up for three awards: Production Design, Makeup and Design, and Visual Effects. I can see the movie taking home at least one of these, though it is a toss up between Makeup and Visual Effects. With that said, we're back to the shire in J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy world, and a prequel to the Lord of the Rings (LotR) series, and they've made this rather lengthy book into three movies! As per usual with book to movie productions, I haven't read the book. Even if I had, it would have no bearing on my review since I review movies (I think I've made this pretty clear in other book to movie reviews) so my judgement is on the movie not what was left out, put in or how faithful it is. It is its own medium and judged accordingly to this.

This movie features the characters of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, alongside Gandalf the wizard and the many, many dwarves (which you probably find harder to name than all the reindeer) and their adventure to reclaim their underground home. Prior to watching, it's very important you know that I hate hobbits, whatever Gollum is and I'm totally racist against elves. Dwarves, however, are awesome. They are like balls of destruction bent on singing and slaying. That's what I'm talking about. Although I disliked the dwarf Gimli in the LotR series as I found all too often he was the comic relief in the group and his character wasn't as strong as the others. But The Hobbit contains thirteen dwarves, so there had to be some awesome dwarves, right? The answer is a profound yes. While yes, the dwarves provide comedic relief in the movie, they must also portray strength, camaraderie and a lot of hate for the elves. They are natural story-tellers and have amazing beards, so really I can forgive some of their silliness within this movie.

It starts with an older Bilbo (played by Ian Holm) writing down his adventure that has happened in The Hobbit. The audience is shown a younger Frodo (played by Elijah Wood) bounding around, who then jumps into the story Bilbo is writing and we also see a young Bilbo (played by Martin Freeman) being visited by Gandalf (played by Sir Ian McKellen). Slowly but surely the thirteen dwarven companions join and just for arguments sake I'll name them; Thorin (played by Richard Armitage) the leader, the strongest of the lot, and the only one you really should know the name of long before the movie ends. Most of The Hobbit is surrounding Thorin's quest while the others (Balin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Dwalin, Fili, Gloin, Kili, Nori, Oin, and Ori) are following his steady will. You may remember Bombur (played by Stephen Hunter) as he is the fatter comedic one and Fili and Kili (played by Dean O'Gorman and Aidan Turner respectively), who are the most attractive ones, even though it seems that dwarves should be as ugly as sin. My point is while they all play some sort of important role throughout the movie, in general, their individuality is lost. While in many films this may be a terrible thing, I feel the point of the dwarves in this movie is that they are a collective “one”. They have a strong bond and through the few songs and the 169 minute journey you gather that they are indeed “one”. Their songs I felt never dragged on and gave you a greater sense of their bond. Characters such as Radagast (played by Sylvester McCoy), was really rather goofy and provided more comedy relief than Bombur because really a rabbit sled is just really silly even if it fits with the realm further strengthened the film.

"Only going to have a problem if you run out of food hobbit, not plates"

The Hobbit is incredibly long and it drags a few times, a couple of scenes just go on a couple of minutes too long and I thought the entire Gollum quiz game scene was terribly long, contains no characters that are enjoyable and made even worse by the fact you know how that story line ends if you are familiar with LotR. I liked the previously mentioned camaraderie that is shown between all the dwarves, and although their songs about their journey and struggles were a bit cheesy, it added a strength between the characters and I enjoyed it. Thorin's song is awesome and I've totally sung it a few times since my viewing. Some of the characters are pretty childish while with some adult-ish themes (beheading and bloody wars) throughout, I'm not sure it's directly made for either age group and more made for anyone who liked the LotR series. I don't consider myself a huge fan but I came out enjoying it just as much.

I give it 8/10

PS: I'd rather watch a two hour movie of the dwarves slaying stuff and ignore all the side story stuff with the hobbit, the ring, the elves and anything else I missed.