The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Movie Review

Last week, I finally finished rereading The Hobbit for the first time as an adult. I didn’t have time to read it all the way through before the midnight release, so I read up to the point I thought would be included in the first part (and I was right, yeah!). So when I picked up the book again to finish the last part, I had the movie playing in my head.

It was fantastic. One of my favorite things about movie adaptations (when done well) is how images from the movie are there in my head the next time I read the book. I have quite a vivid imagination as it is, and I used to be in theatre, so I am usually able translate the words to a movie in my head fairly well, but sometimes it’s easier with a little help. Especially when the help comes in the form of Peter Jackson, who tends to capture Tolkien’s world in such beautiful detail.

When I first heard that the movie adaptation of The Hobbit was being split into three parts, I honestly was nervous, even though Peter Jackson was directing. He did a great job with The Lord of the Rings, which I actually consider to be the best book to movie adaptation, but I just wasn’t sure that the story was long enough for a trilogy.

After seeing the movie, I’m glad he split it into three. Jackson pulled from some of Tolkien’s many other writings on Middle Earth and elaborated on parts of the story, providing backstory that was there but that just wasn’t mentioned in The Hobbit. Once I finished reading the book, I realized there really was too much to include in the movie without either cutting a lot or making it a four hour movie.

Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was a stunning and captivating adaptation. The movie did a great job of tying into The Lord of the Rings as well as capturing Tolkien’s The Hobbit, which is a lighter story than The Lord of the Rings. When I read the book, the dwarves all blended together into 13 hairy creatures that were slightly (and ambiguously) taller than Hobbit Martin Freeman. With the help of a great cast, the movie helped me get to know the dwarves as individuals, and I’ve grown quite fond of a few. Now that I’ve finished the book, though, I’m dreading watching the sequels since I know what happens to my favorite characters!

And may I say that Martin Freeman is the PERFECT Bilbo Baggins? I’m a huge Sherlock fan, and as soon as I heard that he was playing Bilbo, I wasn’t able to disconnect him from the Bilbo Baggins in my mind. Martin Freeman will forever be Bilbo Baggins in my head cannon. He was a reluctant, witty Hobbit who portrayed both what it meant to be a Hobbit and a Took, and I very much look forward to seeing him in the sequels.

About these ads