Score: **** out of ***** (A-)
Long Story Short: The Hobbit entered theaters with enormous expectations and, while not as good as The Lord of the Rings, it proves itself both entertaining and worthy of inclusion in director Peter Jackson's sensational franchise. In a series of great casting choices, Martin Freeman stands out as one of the best as Bilbo the Hobbit; the dwarves may be average company, but Gandalf is a welcome companion. Come for the humor, sense of adventure, and Gollum, but prepare yourself for a CGI-fest.
The roller coaster ride of great movie releases starting in late October has swept us into the last few weeks of 2012. There are still some very interesting films out or yet to come out; I'm not sure how many I'll get to see (e.g.: limited releases). As for The Hobbit, this was one of my most anticipated films of the year. You may know that I'm a big fan of several action/adventure franchises, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of my favorites. After a rocky journey, to say the least, Peter Jackson at last managed to get the precursor to LotR on the big screen - despite being just one book (and a shorter one at that), The Hobbit will be spread out over three lengthy films. The first installment was directed, of course, by Jackson, and stars Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, and others.
The Hobbit opens with Bilbo, circa start of The Fellowship of the Ring (60 years after The Hobbit) giving the background of his adventure to his nephew, Frodo. Back in Hobbit time, Gandalf the wizard pays his little friend a visit in the land of Hobbits known as the Shire. He invites Bilbo along on an adventure, and though Bilbo declines, he receives thirteen uninvited dwarf guests for dinner that night. Eventually Bilbo decides to join them in retaking the dwarves' old mountain fortress which had been overrun and captured by the dragon Smaug for its immense wealth.
Thus Bilbo starts off on the the first great Hobbit adventure. He and the dwarves tangle with trolls, crazy hippie wizards, elves, goblins, stone giants, and more. The main story focuses on the merry band's struggle toward their destination, but along the way elements foreshadowing the events of The Lord of the Rings sprout up, including a first meeting with Gollum and his precious.
Like LotR, The Hobbit benefits from some great casting. First up is Martin Freeman as Bilbo, who is to The Hobbit what Frodo was to LotR. A brilliant choice, Freeman is a natural Hobbit with a perfectly understated, hilarious sense of humor. Freeman is essential in livening up a somewhat slow beginning, and grounding the events of the action-packed finale. Even among all the other phenomenal casting choices in LotR and The Hobbit, Freeman might already be my favorite. The other main character is returning star Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey. I think it goes without saying that McKellen is a tremendous actor, and he truly seems to enjoy playing the character. Gandalf is a bit more adventurous and risk-taking in The Hobbit than he was in LotR, but he has the same kindness, humor, and wisdom.
Thirteen dwarves share this adventure with Bilbo and Gandalf, and to be honest, I marked them as the "hero," the "granddaddy," the "twins," the "fat one," and the rest kind of blurred together. Thorin (ie: "the hero") is kind of the Aragorn of The Hobbit, but he's a poor replacement. Not bad, just not very noteworthy. The dwarves provide some good humor, but I really saw The Hobbit as Bilbo and Gandalf's journey with the dwarves tagging along rather than the other way around (which is technically how it's supposed to be). There are some more familiar faces, too, most notably Andy Serkis (well, his digital face) as Gollum. Although he's limited to one extended scene (which also happens to be perhaps the best in the film), Serkis is at least as good as ever as the slimy, treacherous, two-faced yet pitiable creature. Also involved are Hugo Weaving as Elrond, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel (both elves), and Christopher Lee as Saruman the White (even by The Hobbit he's already kind of an asshole).
Just as a baseline to be successful, in my opinion, The Hobbit needed to retain the feel of LotR, and in this it succeeded for the most part. (For a franchise reboot that did not retain the feel of its predecessors to its detriment, see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull). This is particularly true early on in the Shire - a convenient base to start from since LotR started in the same place. The Hobbit contains roughly the same mixture of action/adventure and characterization as LotR - if anything, this film scales down the epic and tries to incorporate more character background (kind of strange since it is a prequel, but still). The quality of the action is probably where The Hobbit suffers the worst in comparison to LotR; there's just too much CGI (no more humans dressed up in Orc costumes) and at times it gets a little ridiculous even for a fantasy movie. On the other hand, the film has a really good sense of humor, especially early in the film before the action gets rolling (thank you, Freeman). Finally, it's great to have Howard Shore back on board as composer: he retains several themes from LotR while adding some new ones which, while they need to grow on me, certainly fit the Tolkien universe just as well.
***
The Hobbit is a very good film; only those who hate the genre in the first place or are already nostalgic for Frodo, Sam and the rest from LotR should disagree. The biggest point of contention on The Hobbit seems to be the decision to break that one, small book into three expansive films. First, I'll say that I think Peter Jackson loves the Tolkien world so much that this was not primarily a financial decision. Second... OK, perhaps An Unexpected Journey was a little bloated. If I were the editor, I would have cut down on the final extended action sequence and some of the LotR-preview stuff. But I think I was bothered more by the overuse of CGI than the length of the film. Seeing this made me appreciate just how much the "human" orcs really engaged me in the action of LotR. Sadly, some of The Hobbit's action comes off more like a video game (for specifics, compare the main orc bad guy in Fellowship to the one in The Hobbit). But, like I did for Lincoln, I'm mostly picking nits. The fact is, Jackson successfully plunged back into his unique Tolkien world without missing a beat. Is it as good as LotR (at least two of which were A+ in my book)? No... but that's not exactly an insult. One final thing: I saw this in 2D (ie: neither 3D nor the 48 FPS version). The Hobbit trilogy has a strong anchor in Bilbo and Gandalf; I highly recommend the first chapter, and am eager for the next.
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