Review Of The Future: Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

 An Unexpected Journey. A quest typical for a character of Martin Freeman's to take part in. His portrayal of John Watson being whisked away on a journey, or Freeman as Arthur Dent being taken on an adventure by Mos Def's Ford Prefect, are perfect examples of just that, an unexpected journey, making him perfect for the job. Upon seeing the trailer, however, I thought Freeman to modern for the part of Baggins, but the film itself was modern, being comedic and written for children, and able to adapt to any era, unlike it's predecessor in film, or successor in literature, The Lord of the Rings. However, this comedic versatility may have been just what caused several, even die-hard Tolkien fans, to turn away from the movie, believing that to have ruined the grabbing essence of fantasy that Peter Jackson had hoped to capture with Gollum's new performance capture, and the addition of 3D in this film. But that's besides the point. To create an accurate overview of Peter Jackson's brand new creation, we must focus more on the story at hand.

 This film, not movie, film, begins where Tolkien's creation began, in a hole, in the ground. Wait, no, actually, looking back it didn't begin there. It began farther back. And a bit to the east of that hole in the ground. In the land of Erebor, home of the dwarves. This is one of my most favorite things of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings, is that he doesn't just take the story from the book, but takes advantage of Tolkien's more in-depth side plots and includes them in the film. In this particular scene he shows the mountain (or mountains, I can't recall) of Erebor in it's glory, a magnificence only Peter Jackson can portray. I could spend several paragraphs talking about the awe I was in at the beauty of all of the scenery of New Zealand but I'd rather not take the time, and you'd probably rather not read it.
 After this magnificence (Is that how you spell it?) Jackson's camera move on to shoot what I previously mentioned, the hole in the ground. After a brief meeting with Gandalf, the wizard, Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit who happens to reside in that hole in the ground then awakens to a terrible shock, 13 dwarves, are ruining his beautiful, unruly house. Portraying all of those characters in one film is an arduous task, for one director from New Zealand, but Peter Jackson manages to show it adequately as is his skill that caused so many to love Lord of the Rings. It's nearly impossible, however to create, a personality for all of these roles is nearly impossible, so Jackson chooses to turn his attention toward a select few, Thorin, the leader, Balin, the old and wise, Kili and Fili, the "hot" ones, timid Ori, fat Bombur, and Bofur, who, gives Bilbo a sense of perspective.
 From there, the journey, is one fantastic CGI obstacle after another, making you feel as if the entire movie starts to have no purpose after a certain point, just moving on and on, never stopping, your only way of keeping your focus on the film by realizing that at the end, they will finally have Smaug and all of this will have come to a point. However that is not the fault of the crew, but rather Tolkien's for the job of the crew was to perfectly adapt it. It exceptionally captures J.R.R.'s vision, a continuous adventure, with comic, fantasy, and touches of heart. If you're able to sit through that for 3 hours, with comedy as reward, or just simply, if you enjoyed the novel itself, then go on, take a look. However, if not, and you plan to watch Jackson's latest creation, prepare yourself.