The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) - The first installment in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit Trilogy

A worthy prequel to The Lord of the Rings

A Potpourri of Vestiges Review

By Murtaza Ali

Featured in IMDb Critic Reviews 

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)- By Peter Jackson

Our Rating: 8.0

IMDb Ratings: 8.3

Genre: Fantasy

Cast: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage

Country: USA | New Zealand
Language: English

Runtime: 169 min

Color: Color

Summary: A younger and more reluctant Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, sets out on an "unexpected journey" to the Lonely Mountain with a spirited group of Dwarves to reclaim their stolen mountain home from a dragon named Smaug.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is the first installment in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit Trilogy—the much awaited prequel series to the ubiquitously acclaimed The Lord of the Rings Trilogy—based on J. R. R. Tolkien’s 1937 fantasy novel The Hobbit, or There and Back Again. A number of actors have reprised their roles from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: Ian Mckellen as Gandalf, Andy Serkis as Gollum, Hugo Weaving as Elrond, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Christopher Lee as Saruman, to name a few. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey presents the first part of the quest undertaken by an artless hobbit named Bilbo Baggins and a band of vagrant dwarves to help the latter reclaim their lost kingdom from the clutches of a fiendish dragon named Smaug. It is the grand old wizard Gandalf the Grey who tricks Bilbo into joining the seemingly hopeless quest. Gandalf, having closely observed the hobbits for centuries, is fully aware of the inexorable resolve that the halflings are capable of showing once they are pushed beyond their usual limits. Behind their home-loving, amiable, and dainty façade the hobbits are gritty, adventurous, and enduring creatures fully capable of surprising the fiercest of adversaries. During the course of the journey Bilbo and company must always remain wary of the dangers lurking in the shadowy avenues of the Middle-earth. And the sooner they learn to trust each other’s instincts the better would be the odds of their survival.        

Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins

It is one thing to make a promise but it is something totally different to be able to fulfill it. While the former at best is a cinch the latter requires commitment of the highest order. And who better than Peter Jackson to demonstrate it! Over the last many decades several filmmakers had dabbled with the idea of adapting Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings into a full-fledged motion-picture, but it was only Jackson who had the vision, ability and self-belief to make it a reality. And the rest is history. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy quite easily features amongst the greatest accomplishments of cinema. Ever since the grand success of the trilogy speculations concerning the film adaptation of The Hobbit had been rife. Jackson had initially planned to make a two-film adaptation of the novel which was to be directed by Guillermo del Toro. The constant delays caused by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s financial turmoil eventually forced del Toro to leave the project. Guillermo del Toro’s ouster resulted in Peter Jackson’s ascension to the helm. Just like with its predecessor, Jackson once again decided to shoot The Hobbit Trilogy back to back in his native New Zealand. The trilogy’s second and the third installments viz. “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” and “The Hobbit: There and Back Again” are scheduled to release in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey

In The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Peter Jackson yet again succeeds in living up to his promise. Jackson shows why he is hailed in the film circles as an auteur par excellence. When it comes to the fantasy genre Jackson truly has no equal. An Unexpected Journey serves to be a visual spectacle of a very unique kind, one that appeals both to the soul and the intellect. While one is dazzled by the movie’s visual sumptuousness, it’s quite difficult to overlook the emotional subtext—most evident in Bilbo's homesickness and the plight of the dwarves who have been driven out of their rightful dwellings by a ferocious usurper. It’s indeed awe-inspiring to see the way Jackson manages to strike the right kind of balance between style and substance.

Cate Blanchett as Galadriel

It’s important to note that Tolkien’s The Hobbit, or There and Back Again is essentially a children’s book and the motifs that it deals with are quite frivolous in comparison to its sequel, The Lord of the Rings, which without doubt is a much profound work of literature. In order to make the plot more engaging for the mature audience, Jackson and his team of writers were forced to make several adjustments to the adapted plot. They introduced several additional plot details, mostly extracted from Tolkien’s unpublished notes. It left them with enough content to make a three-part adaptation instead of a two-part one as was previously planned. Jackson explains, “A lot of the embellishment, almost all comes from Tolkien because he wrote a lot of notes for an expanded version that he was going to revise after The Lord of the Rings. There were elements looking back at The Hobbit that he wished he'd included.”

The character Gollum, performed by Andy Serkis, in The Hobbit

Overall, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is an exhilarating cinematic experience for viewers of all ages and groups. Vintage Jackson, the movie serves to be a fine specimen of masterful storytelling. Unlike most modern-day movies of its kind, An Unexpected Journey never lets story take the backseat and while technology plays a pivotal part the real emphasis is always on the movie’s plot. Most of the sequences in the movie are beautifully crafted. The one in which Bilbo encounters the ever so spiteful Gollum remains this critic's absolute favorite.  Andrew Lesnie’s awe-inspiring cinematography is another strong point of the movie. The same can be said of Howard Shore’s titillating background music. While the movie’s use of CGI and VFX is quite exemplary in itself the 3D and HFR effects serve to be a real icing on the cake that makes the movie quite unique even in comparison to its predecessors. Jackson manages to elicit worthy performances from his entire cast of actors. Here, I would like to make a special mention of Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins and Ian Mckellen as Gandalf the Grey. An Unexpected Journey has set the ball rolling for the final two installments of the trilogy, but what still remains to be seen is whether it would be possible for Jackson and team to match the success of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, both from the financial as well as critical point of view? 

Readers, please feel free to share your opinion by leaving your comments. As always your feedback is highly appreciated!  

For more information on the title, please click on the following links:

IMDb

Wikipedia

Official Blog

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) Trailer

Previous Review: Talaash (2012)

Next Review: Django Unchained (2012)

Complete List of Reviews

---

A Potpourri of Vestiges

---

People who liked this also liked...

Share on Google Plus