The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Reviews

"I know you doubt me. I know you always have. I often think of Bag End. That's where I belong. That's home. You don't have one. It was taken from you, but I will help you get it back if I can."

From the smallest beginnings come the greatest legends.
A curious Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, journeys to the Lonely Mountain with a vigorous group of Dwarves to reclaim a treasure stolen from them by the dragon Smaug.

Martin Freeman: Bilbo

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey the first part from Peter Jackson adapting Tolkein's loved book. A book for our youth and elders, capturing humour while attaining deeper meaning and significance.
This film not only captures the essence and greatness of the story but also goes many steps further.
At times with the details regarding the back story it is like reading The Silmarillion where we are treated to such impeccable sequences and roots. A radical return to form using all sources available regarding Tolkien.
Peter Jackson gives the film the masterful, visionary strokes it deserves and goes beyond even the book itself with even more analytical precision to paint a bigger picture.
Detailed, passionate and a perfect example of beauty and storytelling.



Certain stories focus on honour,
on courage, and on the struggle and fight for home.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is one of these rarities which will spark action and inspiration, in the sense, those few of us who can comprehend such a call to arms. That can appreciate and value the importance not merely regarding the destination or sentiment, but the enduring journey. This is an experience and a reminder that we must act and the story applies to our situation and reality. This is the beauty that stems from such a masterpiece and an adaptation worthy of such praise.
Our efforts, no matter how big or small, make a difference. The Hobbit reminds us of tradition, culture, and a social path more in tune with nature.
It is a beautiful escape from the artificial ugliness that we see in such tainted liberal societies, who are in a cocoon of complacency and undisciplined laziness.
This first part of The Hobbit does its uttermost best to wake up audiences by setting a glorious yet humble example. An example of brotherhood, comradeship, patriotism, loyalty, faith and spirit.
This is bravery and courage and it still exists even if many seem to have forgotten.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is truly acceptable for such a high standard, for such nobility held by virtues and for our people it is indeed appropriate. Peter Jackson crafts a tale of love, faith, strength, blood and honour.
Thus Jackson effortlessly puppeteers the cast seamlessly, like a spider meticulously spinning a web, immersing and blending all into middle earth.
Fran Walsh and Guillermo del Toro worked on the screenplay and it shows. High quality and their usual finesse is apparent in the glow of the storytelling and natural characters.
Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins and Richard Armitage as Thorin make the characters legends, strong and to be idolised for their enduring qualities.
Freeman's originating English properness and sheltered life growing into a revolutionary and adventurer a warrior is greatness: An evolution of Bilbo through experience, battles and travel. Armitage wonderfully projects royalty and authority while still being constrained of being a dwarf.
Ian McKellen's return as the wizard Gandalf is as always legendary, comedic and a prophet.
Andy Serkis's Smeagol is beautifully detailed and we see an example of Bilbo expressing empathy in sparing such a tortured soul. His schizophrenic tendencies reminded me of certain work in psychology and how such a condition can develop when faced with such an isolated situation and corrupting power.
Regarding others in the dwarf company conclude in being far too many for individual analysis.
As a group and collective they provide excessive amounts of humour and energy.
At the same time they endure the heavy burden, the ongoing hardship of having lost their home and are fighting to have their home back.
We see many Lord of the Rings characters return such as Frodo, Saruman, Galadriel, Elrond. It is full of detail which excels even the book yet keeping the playful nature in tact.
I loved seeing Radhagast the brown, the elves, a younger 'pure' seemingly good version of Sauron, the three trolls, teased with brief glimpses of Smaug, then witnessing those riddles in the dark where Bilbo encounters Smeagol... Breathtaking landscapes and architecture which resparks urges to travel and be in natural spheres once more in life.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is perfection and is one the best films to ever be made in this lifetime alongside the LOTR trilogy.
Great storytelling, amazing visuals, wonderful performances.
The film grips audiences via a multitude of levels in a relentless manner. This film is sending a clear message to those truly listening:
We are part of something greater than ourselves, fighting for something older towards a secured future. Striving now for a return to greatness, reforged and even greater upon realisation and action.
Our home and our way of life will be reclaimed. Order will be restored. This is the beginning.

"We will reclaim our homeland. I will take each and every one of these dwarves over the mightiest army. Loyalty, honor, a willing heart, I can ask no more than that."

After going through pre-production hell and waiting for many years, the first prequel of The Lord Of The Rings trilogy is finally here! Maximum expectations for The Hobbit had already been raised following the critically acclaimed reaction of The Lord Of The Rings all those years ago. Since then, audiences have wanted more. However, those who have read Tolkien’s novels will realize that although there are some clear connections, they are still very different. In addition, technology and filmmaking in general has advanced rapidly over the course of a decade, particularly the continuous use of CGI, the re-birth of 3D and now the new frame-rate of 48 per second. Therefore, it is important for audiences to not expect to see everything in The Hobbit that was seen in The Lord Of The Rings. Considering that The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey does not quite grasp the epic scale of human drama like its predecessors, it is still an absolutely fantastic return to Middle-Earth.


Originally Guillermo Del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy) was to direct The Hobbit series but continuous delays of the project and his desire to work on others, Lord Of The Rings director Peter Jackson replaced him and makes his sensational return to Middle-Earth. With this decision, questions were raised about whether any similarities from Fellowship Of The Ring would be added into The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey to kick off the trilogy. In that sense, An Unexpected Journey is similarly structured through a prologue, a long build-up to the forthcoming adventure and we meet many new faces that emphasizes a new but past Middle-Earth. The breath-taking advanced technological effects, particularly the 48fps and experiencing the film in 3D (methods that we never saw in Lord Of The Rings), helps provide a visual difference that grasps the feeling of a past setting. In addition, the source material of An Unexpected Journey (the original novel) is a children’s book. The more colourful tone of An Unexpected Journey overshadows the dark atmosphere. Therefore, Jackson using new techniques in terms of art direction, cinematography and visual effects, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey provides not only a new cinematic breakthrough but also gives the audience another side to Middle-Earth.


Like in the entire Lord Of The Rings trilogy, the ensemble cast of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is almost entirely filled with male actors. These consist of new additions into Middle-Earth and some are returning. In the leading role is Martin Freeman as younger Bilbo Baggins. Freeman’s performance accurately exemplifies the simple-minded and nervous yet brave, heroic and intelligent nature of Bilbo that was portrayed within the book. Plus, Freeman is identically a younger Ian Holm, who made a brief reappearance as elder Bilbo. Therefore, Peter Jackson did not go wrong with selecting his young or old Bilbo Baggins. Richard Armitage portrays Dwarf warrior and pack leader Thorin Oakenshield. Armitage expresses Thorin as a bitter and grumpy individual with a lot of hatred towards Elves and deep desire to reclaim Erebor. However, at the same time, like most warriors, he is a brave, heroic soul, which clearly indicates that he is the Aragorn of this Hobbit trilogy. In Thorin’s company are twelve other Dwarves. The large number of them raises a curious question but Jackson marvelously gives each of these Dwarves an equal amount of on-screen time. None of the other twelve outshine one another and they all feel part of the group and each serve a genuine purpose.


On the other hand, we see many of those returning to the cast from Lord Of The Rings. First, there is Ian McKellen who reprises his role as Gandalf. This time, he is back as Gandalf the Grey who we knew from Fellowship Of The Ring, where he is a more emotionally engaging wizard with his own trademark image - his grey beard, pointy hat and wooden staff. Another addition who makes his return in An Unexpected Journey is Andy Serkis as Gollum. He is still the same scheming and sinister creature that we experienced in Lord Of The Rings. However, there is a slight comedic touch to Gollum which slightly enlightens the dark, suspenseful scene in a story, primarily for children. We also see cameo re-appearances from Hugo Weaving as Elrond, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins and Sir Christopher Lee as Saruman before his betrayal.


An Unexpected Journey concludes on an exciting and mind-blowing note with a fantastic cliffhanger ending that, like Lord Of The Rings, taunts the audience by wanting more. Although there are some dark moments in this prequel installment, it works amazingly well as a film for all audiences to enjoy and it stays true to the novel. Film adaptations based on books do not always work purely because what we see on the screen can become more the director’s work than the original author’s. In the case of An Unexpected Journey, containing at least half of the book, it works at a balanced level featuring pieces of Tolkien’s storytelling as well as Jackson’s creativity to bring that work to visual life. Nevertheless, they have together opened the gates for more forthcoming adventures in Middle-Earth.

At last. Finally are we back in Middle-Earth. After several years in development hell, Peter Jackson takes us back to one of the most beloved and magical worlds in cinematic and literature history. Jackson did justice to J.R.R Tokien's The Lord of the Rings roughly ten years ago and the expectations for The Hobbit couldn't be any higher. Jackson decided to split The Hobbit into three separate films, including some other stuff Tolkien wrote, as well as Jackson's own artistic choices. And what we have here is the first film, An Unexpected Journey. The first step on this magical journey. For fear not, this is not the Lord of the Rings fans The Phantom Menace. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is a magical film. It's not necessarily as good as The Lord of the Rings, but it's exactly what I hoped it would be. It's a whole different journey and it's a good one.

Opening up with Ian Holm returning as old Bilbo Baggins, as he tells the tale of how the dwarfs lost their home, Erebor, to the dragon Smaug, which is quickly followed by Elijah Wood returning as Frodo, talking to Bilbo. It all takes right before the opening scene of The Fellowship of the Ring. And from there I'm mostly sold. The opening prologues might occasionally feel a bit strange and overlong, but it's impossible to deny the impact it immediately stroke me with. I was back in the universe instantly. It's a powerful way to open the film and it got the exact right amount of majesty to it. The nostalgia, seeing it's about ten years since I saw this world at cinema, kick right in as well. Giving me a huge grin on my face, one that lasted through the entire film.

"Bilbo Baggins, I'm looking for someone to share in an adventure."


The film then quickly goes back 60 years and we're greeted by Martin Freeman as a younger Bilbo. From there it doesn't take along time until Gandalf and the 13 dwarfs arrives. And then we're on another journey. It's a long journey, seeing as the film runs close to three hours, but Peter Jackson never makes it boring. He knows perfectly how to handle the pace of this film by creating one brilliant scene after the other. One thing is that he manages to make every, single scene look absolutely fantastic, but another thing is that he is capable of filling them with something meaningful. Not a single scene feels wasted. That's an achievement, considering how long it is. It also makes me more relaxed towards the decision of telling the story over three films. He creates a film that's filled with humor, camp, creativity, excitement, action and adventures joy. Everything from three silly trolls, a meeting at Rivendell, thousands of goblins and riddles in the dark keeps me at the edge of my seat.

When it comes to the plot, my only, slight complaint about it has to do with Azog. I haven't delved into the literature in many years, so I don't exactly remember how everything went out according to Tolkien, so I'm not going to bother comparing. I'm also under the impression that Jackson is allowed to take some artistic freedom. However, I'm not 100 % impressed by Azog. For one, he looks too fake. Which probably has something to do with him being the only white orc in Middle-Earth. Secondly, all his grunting and tough "drink their blood"! dialogue gets way to repetitive and silly. He's a dull villain, really. Better is however the Goblin King, who is delightfully campy.

"Home is now behind you. The world is ahead."


Casting Martin Freeman as Bilbo was a masterstroke. He is brilliant in his role, portraying it with loads of charisma and he works as a fine humorous counterpoint to the more serious and grooming Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield, who also delivers a fine performance. Very much welcome is the return of Ian McKellen as Gandalf. He have always been tremendous as Gandalf, and if his performance in Fellowship of the Ring was Oscar-worthy, then surely this one is as well, no matter the unlikeness. His dry wit, warmth and wisdom makes his character one of the most likable characters in film history. We also have several other dwarfs here, some gets more time in front of the screen than others, but that's natural thing when there are 13 dwarfs. To give them all more time would double the length of the film. A Six hours long film would be stretching it and there are still two more films to come. Which would give everyone a chance to shine. Also returning are Elijah Wood and Ian Holm in short cameo at the beginning, like I said earlier. We also get to see Hugo Weaving returning as Lord Elrond, Cate Blanchett as Lady Galadriel and the great Christopher Lee as Saruman. Then there is Andy Serkis as Gollum. I'll just say that the scene with him is incredible. The return of all these characters makes the film feel even more connected to The Lord of the Rings, making the film just more enjoyable.

The Hobbit feels therefore exactly like it's an Lord of the Rings film, yet it manages to venture out on its own paths. It's campier and funnier this time, and the darkness doesn't get fully explored. But that doesn't matter. It's Middle-Earth! It's magical. It's wonderful. It brings me straight into the universe and keeps me there. The beautiful cinematography, the familiar sets and music. The sweeping landscapes and adventurous feel wins me straight over. Just to be back in this wonderful world is a glorious thing. To be able to be a part of another adventure. If you don't go in to this film expecting to be brought along on the same journey, there is no doubt that you'll have a fantastic time. It's a different journey, but its familiarity to Lord of the Rings makes it magical.



I saw it in HFR 3D (High frame-rate 3D), meaning that instead of the usual 24 fps (frames per second), I saw it in 48 fps. The Hobbit introduces a new way of technology for films in which we see twice as many images each second. How each person would react to this is going to be very individual as I've read about people getting sick of the transisition. But it can't be denied that it makes scene look completely breathtaking. Particularly the majestic scenes were the camera flows across the landscape. It's clear as crystal. I've never seen something look so good and the combination with 3D makes this the best looking film I've seen. This technology should be applied to more films in the future. I loved it.

This was a hard review to write and I apologize if it didn't make much sense or if you didn't get much out of it. I've just returned from the screening and I'm a very excited. I'm a person who has to write about films the moment after I've seen it, or else I can't get out a word. It's rather difficult to write about films that you already have established a connection with trough other things. Therefore, it's hard to write about The Hobbit when I love The Lord of the Rings so much. So, to make it easy. The Hobbit ain't better than The Lord of the Rings, but it's nearly equally good. Almost.