The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Movie: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Director: Peter Jackson

Stars: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage 

Genre: Fantasy, Adventure

Rated: PG-13

Synopsis: Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), a small easy going creature known as a hobbit, likes nothing more than to just stay at home and relax, and he has no thoughts of doing anything else. At least until an old wizard named Gandalf (Ian McKellen) shows up at his door, bringing thirteen dwarves and insists that Bilbo is the best person to steal back the gold and the mountain home of the dwarves that was taken from them long ago by the vicious dragon, Smaug. This begins an adventure that of which Bilbo never imagined and is the backstory one of the greatest fantasy novels of all time, The Lord of the Rings.

The Lord of the Rings movies were made a little over a decade ago and we can still see some familiar faces in this movie, like Gandalf, Saruman, Smeagol/Gollum, and even Frodo makes an appearance in the beginning (Elijah Wood has not aged a day), and yes, the Ring is back too. An older Bilbo Baggins was also in the trilogy but was played by a different older actor, this Bilbo is supposed to be about 60 years younger.

To be honest, I have heard some mixed reviews about The Hobbit. Some people loved it, especially ones who have read the novel when they were kids or teenagers, while some thought it could've been better. I'm part of the latter. It is a beautiful movie, but maybe I'm just comparing it too much to The Lord of the Rings trilogy which was full of action and a fantastic thriller, while this one felt like it could've been shortened and didn't have the same wonder as the sequel movies.

However, The Lord of the Rings trilogy was each a single movie based on an entire book while The Hobbit is one book split into three movies (about 100 pages a movie, which I think is a feat considering the first movie is almost three hours). I think when all three movies come out and I can see them one after another, it'll be much better. But just seeing the first one made me want to yell in the theater, "THAT WAS IT?"

Should you go see it? I think you should. The Hobbit, along with The Lord of the Rings, are classics and it's not like they did a bad job on this movie. They were loyal to the original story and had good actors and good effects. I just want to see all the movies together instead of having to wait a year between each movie.

Also, because it's so fantastic, here's the "Misty Mountains" song the dwarves sing to Bilbo to make him want to go on the quest.

Fun Facts:

• The names of the dwarves are: Thorin, Gloin, Dwalin, Balin, Oin, Fili, Kili, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Nori, Ori, and Dori. Try saying them three times fast. Also, here's a little cheat sheet for the dwarves in case you're interested.
• Benedict Cumberbatch, who will play the dragon Smaug and the Necromancer in the other two Hobbit movies, plays Sherlock Holmes on the BBC network's "Sherlock", while Martin Freeman, who plays Bilbo Baggins, plays opposite of him as Dr. John Watson. "Sherlock" is also a great series if you haven't seen it, it's better than the Robert Downey Jr. movies.
• Christopher Lee, the actor that plays Saruman, is 91 years old and is the only one of the actors who met the author of the novels in person, J.R.R. Tolkien.