Well, I saw this movie last night and I must say I was very impressed.
I am and have been an avid Lord of the Rings fan for ten years now and when I saw Return of the king in the cinemas I never thought i'd be sitting there 9 years later watching Peter Jacksons 'The Hobbit'. When the credits began at the start and the title appeared, i actually had tears in my eyes (How sad!) I was that excited and overwhelmed that there was another LOTR movie.
So, onto the movie review! I will mark it as a spoiler, just incase.
It was very well done. When I heard he was putting the movie into three parts I was a little shocked and confused as to how he could lengthen one book into three three hour long movies like the lord of the rings. But by the end of An Unexpected Journey I can see how easily it can be done now.
Jackson has added some extras in, and will be adding more in by the sounds of things later on in the trilogy. He is and always will be my favourite film maker and the movie was so AMAZING.
So, the movie starts with a history lesson from Bilbo of how the dwarves came to lose their home and how Smaug came about. Then we jump to the Shire an old Bilbo who is getting ready to write his tale. We see him the day of his birthday, just like in fellowship of the ring and also, in comes Elijah Wood! Yay! He looks no older than he did ten years ago and I must say I was very impressed with how well they did his make up/costume. He literally looked the same. Bilbo too.
The start, starting with an older Bilbo was a nice touch, then we jump into the past and we see a younger Bilbo sitting outside Bagend when Gandalf comes along. I remember their meeting in the book so the film took a different take on it. The dwarves mostly looked how I pictured them and Kili, my favourite in the book who is also my favourite in the film now looked so damn shmexy. I thought they did Gloin very well too and as he is Gimli's father, they got the resembelence spot on =3
So off they go on their adventure, taking advantage of New Zealands epic landscapes for some fantastic shots ^-^ It was nice to see Elrond again, and even though they don't appear in the books, Saruman and Galadriel too. Again, none looked aged at all infact they did a fantastic job of showing them as younger characters as the Hobbit was set 60 years before the lord of the rings trilogy. Haha, did anyone else lol when Saruman said Sauron was dead and could never come back to power?
The only odd part of this movie for me however was Radagast. I remember him being a little weird in the books, but a sledge pulled by bunnies... Wha? Was that in the book as I don't really recall that happening :\ That was a little too on the weird side for my liking, but hey ho.
Gollum's cave, Riddles in the dark was my fave chapter in the book and I loved it in the film <3 They really did it justice. I did get a little teary though when Bilbo was about to kill him when he wore the ring and Gollum started crying! OMG I wanted to hug him so much in that moment! <3
The soundtrack... OMFGSOEPIC. Infact, i am listening to it on Youtube right now as I post this. It was fantastic. So pleased they got Howard Shore back to do these movies. I loved the mix between the old scores and the new too. I loved the contrast and the odd piece that was taken straight from FOTR was so pretty :')
So all in all, I give the movie 10/10. Thank you Peter Jackson! I cannot wait for the desolation of Smaug now!
What are your views on the Hobbit? What did you like and dislike? Who is your favourite character? What did you find odd? Will you watch the next one?