As every single reviewer on the face of the earth may have told you, Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will disappoint viewers looking for more of the same from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. However, coming into the Hobbit with an open mind will leave any Tolkien or fantasy fan more than satisfied with what can only be described as an “incredibly fun” movie.
An Unexpected Journey does what so many other fantasy movies have tried and failed to do. It sets the stage for a compelling adventure with astonishing CGI and special effects without taking itself too seriously. The script for The Hobbit is unlike the nuanced, character-arc driven script that worked so well in The Lord of the Rings, but what The Hobbit lacks in plot complexity it makes up for with clever wit, banter and humour.
Would a character like Radagast the Brown, the eccentric, animal loving wizard, have fit into the original trilogy? Of course not, but the wizard is central to some of the strongest scenes in the film. His exchange with Gandalf in telling of the terror of Dol-Guldur is both chilling and wonderfully absurd. The chase scene that follows, between Radagast, his crew of speedy rabbits and a pack of Wargs, matches the intensity and beauty of the Nazgul chases in The Fellowship of the Ring, only this time with an added dose of playfulness.
A lot of the credit for maintaining this healthy balance between a serious adventure and devilish fun must go to the three leads. Martin Freeman is a wonderful Bilbo Baggins encompassing The Hobbit’s stubbornness, selfishness and compassion while keeping the audience smiling. Ian McKellan’s Gandalf takes a slight divergence from the more-focused Gandalf of The Lord of Rings. McKellan plays a much more whimsical and fun-loving character who is seen enjoying the company of the rather ridiculous dwarves. Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield provides the more serious side of the movie as his personal quest is paralleled in many ways to that of Aragorn.
Since The Lord of the Rings was first released more than a decade ago, no fantasy movie has “upped the ante” in terms of special effects as much as The Hobbit has. Leading up to the release of the Hobbit, much of the talk surrounded the decision to use 48 frames-per-second. Some of the early backlash against the new technology was that it is distracting. There is no denying that it is initially a shock and takes a while getting used to. However, by the time the wargs arrive more than an hour in, there is no denying that using 48 frames improves the experience.
The wargs were one of the poorest CGI creations of the original trilogy, as they looked out of place and didn’t fare well during close-up battle sequences. In The Hobbit, they look like animals out of a Discovery Channel HD documentary, and the high frame rate alleviates much of the confusion that often creeps into battle sequences shot from close range.
Another incredible accomplishment of the CGI team in The Hobbit is the fight of the storm giants on the Misty Mountains, which again provides the perfect balance of an awe-inspiring set piece with some incredibly entertaining action.
The Hobbit isn’t perfect, it isn’t Lord of the Rings, but it is wildly entertaining, something that critics seem to have missed out on. The Hobbit should be used as an example to other fantasy movies with big budgets (looking specifically at the current Narnia film series-reboot) that cutting-edge special effects should not be a mandate to take oneself too seriously. The Hobbit is a children’s book, but The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is not a dumbed-down children’s movie as many would have you believe; it is a fun, witty and captivating adventure.