Peter Jackson's second home is at the heart of Middle-Earth where dwarves contrive a plan to vanquish a particular airborne fire-conjuring lizard named Smaug. Welcome to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, a less substantial epic but miles more charming preamble to Jackson's successful trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. In a nutshell, the movie follows a pint-sized adventure-allergic hobbit named Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) agreeing to setting out on an "adventure" alongside a band of dwarves headed by Thorin (Richard Armitage, Captain America: First Avenger) and the magisterial wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen, X-Men).
This minimal premise is a tad underwhelming when compared to its predecessor but Jackson's commitment to the project is a gift. His unsurprising sensibility in directing the movie appears in crisp definition using imposing imagery and fashionable use of 3-D effects. I watched it in IMAX 3-D and I can tell you how spectacular the conventional 24 fps turned out; and for a movie like The Hobbit, the HFR (higher frame rate in 48 fps) isn't at all necessary.
No question in Freeman and McKellen being stand-outs, ably playing their respective roles. The former is all but a killjoy hobbit; after all, a Baggins readily misses his books, his dishes, his garden, his hole; the latter, an estimable wizard portrayed in the form of the indispensable 'sir McKellen. Telling that Armitage isn't at all excellent - playing the head dwarf with trust issues - would be understating, but something in him screams slightly contrived which in moments turns you off a very little bit. The ever-insidious Gollum (Andy Sekris) is in sight, giving depth to the movie's occasionally silly tale. But An Unexpected Journey is based on a children's book - it is meant to be silly, simple and all the while bewitching. And is so depicted well in here.
Based on J.R.R. Tolkien's novel "The Hobbit (Or There and Back Again)" the movie seems overlong, - running for almost three hours - taking into account that the source material is barely of length enough for a whole trilogy. The result is a movie that is sometimes wearying and dragging. Notwithstanding this, the movie is a solid first chapter and a charming standalone epic tale. It doesn't quite keep up to the expectations that The Lord of the Rings have left, but The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has its own virtues, too.
VERDICT: A-
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