Already being one of the most influential and recognized fantasy series of all time, The Lord of the Rings was able to expand its already massive fan base through the Peter Jackson film trilogy, which were equally lauded and appreciated. They made the fantasy genre an approachable and even profitable avenue for film during a time when they were seen as poison, launched the careers of several big actors, gave the world several memorable scenes, lines, and even effects that have become ingrained in film history, and created a new franchise that while not overstuffed with every detail from the J R.R. Tolkien books, captured the spirit and purpose behind the pages strong enough that everybody (book fan or otherwise) came out happy. With something this successful, it was obviously going to be continued in some fashion, and the next logical step would be to tackle Tolkien’s other book centred in that universe, The Hobbit. While not as big as Lord of the Rings, this 1937 originator to the world of Middle Earth is still considered a massive success and classic, so making it a film does seem like a smart idea. This resulted in its own trilogy which lasted from 2012 to 2014, but this time around, the same kind of positive magic wasn’t cast. Set in a period before the travels of the fellowship to destroy the one ring, a young Bilbo Baggins (played by Martin Freeman) is quaintly comfortable in his quiet and non-threatening life, but that is disrupted when the wizard, Gandalf (played again by Ian McKellen) picks him for a quest he is undertaking with a band of warrior dwarfs. This quest is being led by Thorin Oakenshield (played by Richard Armitage) a descendant of the king of the dwarfs who is planning to reclaim his birthright by taking back his family’s kingdom within The Lonely Mountain, which has now been taken over by a dragon named Smaug. Initially reluctant to join, Bilbo eventually agrees to be their ‘’burglar’’ and travels with them across the dangerous Middle Earth in order to help them reclaim their home, facing dangers and threats at every turn that just might happen to mold him into a braver person by the end and even lead him to encountering a certain ring that might reshape Middle Earth as they know it. While this trilogy was successful at the box office, the general consensus from fans and critics was mostly mixed, with it being seen as a failed attempt to force a dramatic epic scale into a story that just doesn’t suit it. Out of the three, An Unexpected Journey is easily the best as it houses some nice moments, a subdued atmosphere that mostly benefits the film, and some very strong performers, but even then, it’s hard to call the movie truly great.

This project arguably had more complications before its release than after, as the build-up to creating this movie was met with several hurdles that kept making the production extra frustrating to work through. There’s was a battle of ownership for the filming rights between Jackson and MGM, Guillermo del Toro was originally set to direct the film and created various concept art and ideas, but left the project which forced Jackson to evolve from producer to director, there was a conflict that arose between the production and the people of New Zealand over Warner Brothers contemplating moving filming to another location which would’ve diminished the brand’s marketing connection with the country, the film was expanded from two films to three in order to bank on the popularity of trilogies, and all of this was going on while having the burden of trying to contend with a legacy-defining trilogy hanging over their every step. With all this in mind, it’s amazing the film came out as stable as it did, but you can definitely feel the cracks in the execution and how it wasn’t portrayed in a way that best served the original source. Being a story that was made more as a cute fantasy kids story with Tolkien’s familiar style of world-building and crafting sometimes getting in the way of that simple format, The Hobbit is not on the same level as Lord of the Rings, but due to having the exact same voice as the previous trilogy of films (Jackson returning as directing, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens returning as screenwriters, Howard Shore returning as the composer, Andrew Lesnie returning as the cinematographer, Zane Weiner returning as a producer, etc), it doesn’t leave room for this story to have its own voice, instead making it just a prelude to a very popular film franchise, and that self-aware precognition is painfully upfront in this movie. With allusions sprinkled around everywhere in places they don’t belong, it suffocates the film to the point that it can’t exist as this simple fun adventure under the pressure of living up to a legend, and while the outline of the story is pretty close to how it was portrayed in the book, it does feel stretched out and padded in a way that benefits the format the filmmakers are planning out rather than the story its telling in the current moment. At first, the slower pacing is appreciated and allows the audience to take its time and adjust to this growing feel of dread the same way the lead is, but the constant onslaught of exposition and backstory as well as sub plots that serve no purpose outside of obvious foreshadowing, grows tiring after a while, especially when it’s revealed by the end that most of them are all for nothing. The tone of the film is also horribly handled, balancing between extremely childish and recognizably grounded in a way that makes neither feel fitting. The comedy is overly silly and pandering (even more so than in The Lord of the Rings which also suffered from occasional bouts of ill-fitting relief, but had the epic story and grizzly nature to balance it out enough), and Jackson’s push to connect these two stories with a consistent tone results in a very off experiencing that juggles between cockney speaking trolls blowing snot on Bilbo, to grotesque looking orcs chopping off heads, it just doesn’t match.

While the film is populated with familiar characters with returning faces like Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Christopher Lee, Andy Serkis and even Elijah Wood (who literally only has a single scene that lasts under a few minutes, but that won’t stop them from giving him a noticeable name in the credits), but it is smart enough to make the lead characters mostly new names and faces. Seeing the character of Bilbo, who was only a supportive and seemingly mentally broken mentor figure, partake in his own quest is a nice idea and although stretched out beyond the point of requirement, the film does a decent job laying out his turmoil, struggle and ways of overcoming said issues. This really comes from Martin Freeman in the role, who not only matches the character’s spirited and softly gentile energy, but also displays his thoughtful and vocal approach to fixing situations in a way that comes across as really likeable and legitimately fragile instead of overly prissy. Another nice new touch is that the dwarfs are handled a little more graciously here than they were previously in this universe, no longer just being a big punching bag race. Thorin is actually a pretty cool character who has a good motivation, backstory and is played pretty well by Richard Armitage who is able to take a character that should be very stubborn and overly cold, and still make him come across as an effective and admirable leading figure. However, with a group of dwarfs that reaches to the number of twelve, all except for about three or four are entirely unmemorable and aren’t even made to stand out as characters. While people like Thorin, Balin (played by Ken Stott), Filli and Killi (played by Aiden Turner and Dean O’Gorman) are given enough time to at least feel like characters, all the others don’t even get the benefit of having a single trope to be their one defining trait, they barely get anything more than a few throwaway lines to remind the audiences they exist. Most of the other characters they introduce in aren’t that much more interesting either. The character of Radagast (played by Sylvester McCoy) is overly ridiculous and clearly shows the film’s leaning towards kids in a bad way, and there’s a villainous orc named Azog (played by Manu Bennett) who is given the most generic design and dialogue that he feels so useless and nonthreatening, so much so that a faceless necromancer and a jolly singing goblin king (voiced by the late Barry Humphreys) prove to be much better antagonistic forces in spite of also being fairly weak.

Visual technology has advanced greatly since the time of the initial trilogy, so it would’ve been exciting for Jackson to experiment and see what could be brought to life anew in this familiar world, but that focus on overly digitizing things could come with a consequence. The film for the most part still looks pretty nice and while containing a slightly faded filter that does make things look a little more fake than usual, the scale and grandeur of these locations is kept intake by the great colors, lighting, and the appreciated mix of real-life locations with the familiar sweeping shots of New Zealand Mountain plains. With that said, the over-reliance on CGI is much more apparent in this one with all the orcs having digital faces and even a character like Gollum looking weirdly not as strong as he did in the original films despite having the same people work on him. The action in the film isn’t that good either and despite having set ups that sound kind of fun like battling through a horde of goblins in their multi-layered kingdom or battling Warg-riding orcs in a large open grass field, the way the film portrays them is never that effective. The camerawork by Andrew Lesnie is constantly moving and sweeping around in a fashion that works more for showing off a landscape rather than an action moment, so the stunts are often hard to look at and the motion of the camera is so rapid and jumpy that it never allows time for a moment to sit. The editing by Jabez Olssen is also not very good in these moments and really creates a situation where the continuity of hits and actions don’t connect with what’s going on in the moment, taking the audience out pretty noticeably and creating a bit of a jumbled viewing experience.

The Hobbit could’ve been a small, quiet, and delightfully straightforward kids’ film about a hobbit and a group of dwarfs travelling to a mountain to slay a dragon, but instead the film is really just obsessed with being a prequel to Lord of the Rings, rather than a narrative in its own right. For a first movie in a forced trilogy, this is the most effective and grabbing out of the three as at least it allows for some moments that feel charmingly subdued and paced at a relaxed manner, but any time the film injects military battles, large backstories, political strives between races and the ramifications that a broken blade could have on the future of the world, it just loses all investment and uniqueness. The story is simultaneously too graphic for young children, but too immature for adults, the characters are well acted, but aren’t always the best laid out, the visuals can look pretty, but also look fake as a consequence, and the lack of a unique identity and very much feeling like table scraps makes this entire product (future sequels included) feel like trying to reclaim gold that has already been confiscated. You’ll get an adequate experience from watching this film, but don’t expect anything that precious to come out of this.

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