The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Review
RYAN: We just saw part one in the new Hobbit trilogy from director Peter Jackson and I’m so glad to have you joining me in reviewing this, Brad, since you love The Lord of the Rings as much as I love Oz and Harry Potter.
BRAD: That is very true. I’m a complete Tolkien geek.
RYAN: Well right away, I have to say I enjoyed this more than the Lord of the Rings movies primarily because it was much more user friendly, most of it anyway. And there’s familiarity with Middle Earth and the characters now going into this trilogy.
BRAD: I loved it. It was visually stunning. The 3D made you feel like you’re right there walking through the mountains, through the pines, the wind, the fire.
RYAN: It is some of the best 3D I’ve ever seen. And some of the effects and environments were so realistic and this new frame rate – it is the first film shot 48 frames per second and select theaters are showing it that way – it looks brilliant. It’s so much more textured and detailed; almost like the difference between regular DVD and Blu Ray. And the 3D looks less murky and dark. This movie sets a new standard.
BRAD: I was originally skeptical about how Jackson could take a slender book and turn it into a long film as part of a trilogy. But culling from the entire Tolkien universe is what he has done to flesh out and give exposition to those who haven’t seen or read any of the material. To the diehards like myself, this is certainly something that has been anticipated and desired.
RYAN: I love Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf. He still great in that role. His brand of wizardry is cool. It was also great seeing Elijah Wood and Cate Blanchett and there was a bit of a homecoming opening the film back up in the Hobbit’s habitat.
BRAD: I couldn’t agree more. Seeing all the old hams from the previous films was fantastic and quite frankly, I could watch Ian McKellen read from a phone book for two hours. The actors they’ve assembles, even among the fresh faces in the franchise… there wasn’t a bad casting note in the house.
RYAN: There are even, like, three musical numbers which I’ll take anytime, anywhere.
BRAD: …which is keeping in tradition with the original Rankin/Bass animated version. In the book itself, for the most part, the dwarves are singers. There is a story in their songs and that has been maintained in this film.
RYAN: I as very confused and almost bored for the first hour and a half because it’s a lot like Lord of the Rings with a lot of back story – random names and places and I just never read any Tolkien and was so lost.
BRAD: Much like with the previous story, I think a lot of the back story is essential to set up. Some this has never been as fully explained in the books as well as Jackson is setting it up here to know where everyone is gong and what they’re doing.
RYAN: Were you bored during that first hour and a half?
BRAD: Not at all. I was enraptured the whole way, ensorceled.
RYAN: That means enchanted.
BRAD: That Jackson brought in the true Tolkien history of the lonely mountain and the dwarves and how the dragon came is phenomenal.
RYAN: And where did that info come from? It’s not in the book, right?
BRAD: Not all of it. I found it in The Lord of the Rings appendices in the back of the books, all the histories of the swords and the elves and dwarves. There’s a lot to it. Tolkien started the book The Hobbit in the ’30s. But I don’t think he knew it would blossom into the phenomenon it has become.
RYAN: So you were totally into all of that and you understood it whereas I kinda wanted to nap a bit at that point. One of the things I love about this is that Peter Jackson is as much of a fan-geek for Tolkien as you are, so he certainly is the right man to be bringing these stories to life. He so painstakingly adapts them. He is so passionate and obsessed with them and this film is another lovingly adapted work.
BRAD: From watching all The Lord of the Rings films and now this one, seeing all the lush and green and tilled farmland, to the rocky land of the dwarves… no expense is skimped here. Seeing this is as literal an adaptation as reading the book can provide. This really is from page to screen.
RYAN: I was also a little confused by some of the species. Some of the dwarves didn’t look so short to me. But for all that it was confusing it turns such a harsh corner halfway through and becomes one of the best adventure movies ever. The effects, suspense, epic-ness… I was almost overwhelmed by the amazing enormity of the underground caves and bridges and all of it – just stupendous. And then we meet Gollum. He was riveting in this film.
BRAD: It’s no spoiler. We know who Gollum is. But the most famous iteration of him is his riddles in the dark with Bilbo and it’s a delight to see that here. And you see how Bilbo has the opportunity to rid the world once and for all of Gollum and he hesitates. And we know what is to come.
BRAD: The Hobbit has a special sentimentality to it because of the Rankin/Bass production and Jackson took the house that movie was and built a skyscraper upon it. A lot of what you didn’t find as interesting in the beggining of the film is significant because it shows the animosity of the races against the dwarves which I’m sure will play a part in the other movies.
RYAN: I’m sure it’s all a part of Jackson’s master plan.
— BOTTOM LINE —
BRAD: It’s beautiful; so well done and true to the book and in some ways superior. I loved it. You have to see it to believe it.
RYAN: I was ready to walk away being brutally honest about this but the second half is so brilliant it warrants it a must see. I’m already looking forward to the next one.
