"There is more in you of good than you know..." The Hobbit

As I closed the gate behind me, settling into The Shire, I was prepared to be disappointed.

There have been all sorts of rumblings about the many failings of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Too often these days, the bigger a film’s expectations, the more critical arrows are drawn back, just waiting to be let fly.

What an incredible relief to discover that The Hobbit is a wonderful, sure-footed adventure – and if you have a fondness for Peter Jackson’s previous landmark Lord of the Rings trilogy, you should absolutely love it. The Hobbit is a very different book in tone from Rings – on the surface, it’s a children’s fable – a cracking yarn. Yet J.R.R. Tolkien also included the seeds of what would lead to a darker adventure that threatens all of Middle Earth – as anyone who’s seen Rings already knows, it’s where Bilbo Baggins comes to find The One Ring. Peter Jackson has endeavored to serve two masters with The Hobbit – on the one hand, the film is much more outlandish in places than anything in the previous trilogy. On the other, he’s daring to expand this lighter yarn into another trilogy, by spending more time showing us how the evil we saw in Rings came to power. It’s a risky prospect.

As Martin Freeman’s Bilbo finds his peaceful domicile under siege by an unexpected hoard of Dwarves, we’re right back in the beloved Shire of the previous films. The arrival sequence is a long one, but I remained fascinated throughout. If you know these chapters, you’ll find they were nicely serviced here and I found the Dwarves to be a delight. We witness an epic prologue of how the Dwarves lost their ancestral home to the mother of all dragons, the woeful Smaug. Richard Armitage takes center stage as a much more smoldering heartthrob Dwarf then I think Tolkien ever dared imagine – but as Thorin, he takes on the central heroic role that makes him cousin to Viggo Mortensen’s Aragorn. As leader, Thorin has the task of reclaiming Israel for his people – with a truly nightmarish foe from his past determined to stop him. All I can say is, “Toy company, where is my Azog the Defiler action figure?!?”

Many of the Goblins and design elements of The Hobbit have the look of Guillermo del Toro’s influence – it does appear his involvement during the initial design phase is showing through. The Goblins and beasts on display are fantastic.

The cast is uniformly outstanding, particularly Freeman. Bilbo’s scenes with Gollum have been widely reported, but don’t think that’s the only showstopper in the film. There’s plenty to admire here, especially for Gandalf fans. Scenes with Elrond, Galadriel and the great Christopher Lee are fascinating.

The Hobbit may be a bit longer than it needs to be. I did not see the film in its controversial 48 frames-per-second format, but in RealD 3D. I found the 3D pointless, and as I experienced with Avatar, I found myself eager to fire this up on Blu-ray, as I suspect it’s going to look much sharper with more eye-popping detail in hi-def 2D blu. Some of the bigger action sequences get a bit cartoonish and drag a bit, veering close to Pirates of the Caribbean territory at times. The Goblin cavern is full of endless Rube Goldberg rope ladders and rocky chasms where characters tumble hundreds of feet down only to land with an “oomph” and scarcely a bruise. These are scenes where the film truly feels more like a kid’s movie – no offense meant. The action is just much less realistic in these scenes. There are other moments where the sweeping helicopter panoramas and subterranean goings-on feel like Rings redux. The Goblin chase feels very much like Moria, for example.

But these are fairly minor carps. At the end of the day you come away feeling something. The lesson Bilbo learns by the end of this first film is a very human one, and as the affection between the characters grows and we feel darkness beginning to threaten this world, we find ourselves caring very much. I felt like I’d sat down at a very sumptuous feast, and the film leaves you more than ready for the next chapter. If you’re a Tolkien fan, and you love Rings, you’re apt to find The Hobbit is a very welcome gift.