The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) Review

So now The Lord Of The Rings is over and I have watched all of them, it is now time to watch the prequel trilogy of Hobbit films, starting with An Unexpected Journey and here is my review for it. The premise of the film sees a young Bilbo Baggins go on a journey with Gandalf and a group of Dwarves to try and reclaim their homeland from a dragon. 

Main Character

When it comes to casting younger versions of iconic characters, Hollywood sometimes struggles. Here we see Martin Freeman play a younger Bilbo Baggins and he is perfect for this role and excels, this guy is so charming and charismatic in his role. You just instantly care about Bilbo, he has a very clear arc throughout the film and it is great to watch and lets be honest he is a more likeable protagonist then Frodo ever was and it really improves this film. 

Supporting Characters

Sir Ian McKellen is back, this time as Gandalf The Grey and he is great, I always thought this version of the character was more fun to watch and more charming and it is nice to see him back and enjoying himself. He has a great dynamic with Freeman which for me carries this film and is the best relationship in the film. Richard Armitage plays Thorin, the leader of the dwarves and I thought he gave a good performance, despite his character annoying me throughout. Thorin is just so angry throughout the majority of the film, but the film does a good job of explaining why he is like that and I appreciate the time and effort given to his character in this film. Andy Serkis is back as the ground-breaking Gollum and he looks and acts better then ever, the development in technology allows him to look more realistic then ever and the scenes between him and Bilbo are real highlights of the film. Though there is more of an issue in this film is that you won't care about the majority of the characters in the film, there is a large group of dwarves and they are given no distinctive personalities or reasons to make you care and the villains are pretty dull and underdeveloped. 

Story

The story in the film has some really interesting ideas, this film does a good job with the characters of Bilbo and Thorin and develops them well throughout and the quest is interesting and different enough from the quest in Lord Of The Rings. Also the film introduces an interesting story involving a character called The Necromancer, which gets developed more in the later films. But the issue here is more to do with the source material and the fact that this has to be a trilogy, there is so much filler here that dulls down the stories, there is clearly not enough for them to work with and is very clear that they are padding out the narrative in order to get three films out of 1 small Hobbit book, which is very clear. 

Script

The script is good though, the main characters are written well, and the dynamic between humour and drama is pretty good still, I mean the Hobbit is a more kid friendly book so there is a bit more childish humour but it doesn't take away from the overall feel of the script and the way it develops the two main characters. 

Style  

The style of the film still looks great, Middle Earth looks great and the film shows that, also with some really fun action scenes that will excite throughout. The issue is this film, like The Lord Of The Rings films is nearly 3 hours long and it has no reason to be, you could easily cut 30/40 minutes off the film for a more concise and much better film. There is also some poor CGI, that stands out and makes you want the poor practical style back. 

Overall

Overall, this is a good return to Middle Earth, that if you enjoy The Lord Of The Rings you will like, but there is a clear drop in quality. I would say it is still worth a watch but just lower expectations for this film. 

Rating - 7/10