The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

We've seen a plethora of films that have origins or beginnings in mind-- "Batman", "Star Trek", "Star Wars" to name a few. It seems to be that 'origin' films are becoming a hot commodity, because now we have the much anticipated "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey", which is basically a story that precedes "The Lord of the Rings".

This story, told as a flashback from an older Bilbo (Ian Holm), a younger Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) is reluctantly swept into a quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug. Approached, out of the blue, by the wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen), Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarfs led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage). Their journey takes them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers.
Although their goal lies to the east and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain, first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever... Gollum (Andy Serkis). Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of guile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum's "precious" ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities.

Others to round out the cast are Hugo Weaving as Elrond, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Christopher Lee as Saruman, Barry Humphries as Great Goblin, Lee Pace as Thranduil, Jeffrey Thomas as Thor, Michael Mizrahi as Thrain, Sylvester McCoy as Radagast, Ken Stott as Balin, Graham McTavish as Dwalin, William Kircher as Bifur/ Tom Troll, James Nesbitt as Bofur, Stephen Hunter as Bombur, Dean O'Gorman as Fili, Aidan Turner as Kili, John Callen as Oin, Peter Hambleton as Gloin/William Troll, Jed Brophy as Nori, Mark Hadlow as Dori/Bert Troll, and Adam Brown as Ori.

This was directed Peter Jackson ("Bad Taste" '87, "Meet the Feebles" '89, "Dead Alive" '92, "Heavenly Creatures" '94, "The Frighteners" '96, "The Lord of the Rings Trilogy" '01,'02,'03, "King Kong" '05, "The Lovely Bones" '09), and he has established a definite style, not to mention that he goes nowhere without Weta Digital, Inc., the visual effects company he uses on all his big-budget films. This was written by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, and Guillermo del Toro based on J.R.R. Tokien's novel, "The Hobbit". The story kind of started a bit slow, but once it built momentum, it just took off and was much more enjoyable. It's a little long-in-the-tooth, but it did have a lot to say.

The Visual Effects/Animation by Weta Digital, Inc. was absolutely seamless as were the the miniatures which could be nominated come Academy Award time. 

If you're a real Tolkien fan you'll love this, and you already know there is more to come after these end credits roll. There were flaws in this, but all in all, the majority definitely made this film worthy of viewing especially in that 3D format.

 Out of 4 Stars: 3                      Rated: PG-13                   169mins.