The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)'s comments

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monty

"Hollywood has turned Tolkien into a monster, devoured by his own popularity and absorbed into the absurdity of our time. The chasm between the beauty and seriousness of the work, and what it has become, has overwhelmed me. The commercialization has reduced the aesthetic and philosophical impact of the creation to nothing. There is only one solution for me: to turn my head away." - Christopher Tolkien

11 years 4 months ago

aniforprez

people expecting a rerun of the events in the book will be highly disappointed and quite shocked at how different it is. book movies are already looked down upon for the removal of many plot points but this movie adds so much to the original book in an effort to make it a trilogy, it's almost unrecognisable.

that said, this is an epic movie. the grandeur, the scale, the scope and the size of the ballad really shows with excellent cinematography, a thrilling soundtrack and a generally even pacing. the scene with gollum was incredible and kept me at the edge of my seat.

but some cracks do show. certain things make no sense, certain scenes with the dwarfs are goofy and unnecessary and some scenes drawn out. and i can see no future where a trilogy that has bastardised it's source material this much can win any oscars.

this movie may not live upto the standards of its predecessor and will leave diehard fans wanting. but on it's own it is spectacular and easily recommendable.

9/10

11 years 4 months ago

SalmaTarzi

All what I wanted to say, I found it in most of the comments here. Jackson trying to put the events of a somewhat small book in a trilogy is one of the mistakes that he made. The movie is filled with a lot of unnecessary padding, and the fact that the extended version is only 13 minutes longer is utter BS. On the other hand, the movie made me feel very nostalgic and I loved that. It took me back to the mood a LotR movie puts you in. Certainly loved seeing Gandalf, and a youthful Bilbo though!

10 years 3 months ago

Earring72

Looked and sounded terrific on Blu Ray, but story wise and PACING very dissapointing. Scenes with Gollum are the stand out and Martin Freeman is excellent.

10 years 6 months ago

dpanter

Very enjoyable and very, very beautiful.
The pacing might be the main issue most have with the movie, but spoiler

it's a pleasant ride.

Not something for the ADHD crowd since you need a bit of patience here. For everyone else - highly recommended.

11 years ago

digfish

"Lord of the rings" prequel. Being a Tolkien fan, initially I thought this is gonna be a one-movie, then when I discovered that Peter Jackson decided the make a trylogy, exactly in the same way he did in the LOTR saga, I remembered many people criticized Jackson because all of the book stories could not be wrotten in just three hours for each book. Now Jackson decide to do exactly the opposite - given just one book, "The Hobbit", which is shorter than every one of the LOTR volumes, decide to make three movies from 300 pages story, and with the same time length (3 hours)!
The story is too near LOTR, Thorin Oakenshield when he faces Azog, the pale orc, is almost exactly like Isildur behind Sauron.
Anyway, I liked the appearance of Radagast in the movie, the most known scene in the Book which is quoted in the LOTR - the trolls - is good.
The problem is, Jackson will gonna have the need to put more action into the story in order to have enough storytelling for the next two movies...

11 years 3 months ago

Jaqo

Gaaaawd! Can people pleeeease stop comparing this to The Lord of the Rings?? No, it doesn't have huge battles, beacause this is not about the war of the ring. The reason there are thirteen dwarves stealing the action, is because the book "The Hobbit" is about thirteen dwarves on a quest to reclaim their land from a dragon. It's not bad because of this. It's awesome!!

However, I do think Peter Jackson have stretched the story a little too much by making three movies out of this book, which gets quite clear in some moments throughout the film. There were times I felt Peter Jackson was taking too much time getting to the "point", and made me think "get on with it!".
Still awesome enough to not let me dwell on this too much, though.

11 years 4 months ago

dchauvin

Felt like a tame remake of LOTR. The characters are blander though, and the only notable ones bare striking resemblance to LOTR charatcters (Thorin - Aragorn; the archer guy - Legolas). I watched it in 2D, normal frame rate. The visuals felt a bit more cartoony than LOTR, although I'll admit this may have worked well in 3D or 48fps. The story itself was not really captivating, and the ending, although of course not really "the ending", felt somewhat unsatisfying. That all might sound fairly critical, but it was enjoyable in parts. The fight scenes were good, I just wanted them to be more frequent. Not bad I guess, but nothing more than you're expecting it to be.

11 years 4 months ago

HyliaFischer

I thought it was an ok fantasy flick. Too much comedy and silliness in my opinion but still an entertaining movie.

11 years 4 months ago

sureup

Pretty good but has a less interesting story and far less interesting characters than LOTR. Just after leaving the theater I couldn't remember which of the dwarves had what names. But it's way better than what the haters are saying. The 3d + 48fps worked REALLY well and made 3d finally pleasing to the eye. One thing that bugged me though was how similar this movie was to the fellowship of the ring.

Still really good and I look forward to the rest of the trilogy.

11 years 4 months ago

Drage3000

Great movie! Sure, The Hobbit trilogy will never beat The Lord of the Rings trilogy, because the story was meant for kids and it's more joyful and simple. So if you plan to watch the Hobbit movie, don't compare it to The Lord of the Rings, compare it to the book. It is a great adaptation! Don't expect to see a remake of The Lord of the Rings or you'll be disapointed.

11 years 4 months ago

frankqb

The tone and world are familiar, if less mature, but that, like many of the minor negatives I have about this film, can be attributed to the very nature of Tolkien's source material which lacked the narrative drive of Lord of the Rings. It was wonderful to see some old friends up on the screen again, but ultimately the movie is a little unfocused and simply setting up larger, more important things down the road. I will say that Jackson did an admirable job of making the dwarves individuals and quite distinguishable from one another as they always seemed to blend together into one general mass of beard and axe in the novel.

A note about the high-frame rate version (which I saw): The HFR made some things look lovely, and there was considerable less blur to the 3D image. That being said, moving objects on stationary backgrounds were given a glassy, sped-up appearance that was incredibly distracting. CGI stood out as obvious and very much took away from my enjoyment of the film. I look forward to seeing it again in good ol'fashioned 2D in 24 fps. Just like the old ones were shot. You might want to do this too.

11 years 4 months ago

samfenn

Whenever a film-maker does a spectacular job of creating multiple films on the same story, critics and non-critics alike are stuck in the idea that these are miraculous events that couldn't be repeated; Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, etc.

So there was no way the critics could let their side down by just liking this film. They had to dislike it, or else they'd just be one of the fans lining up to spend more money. Well, it's bullshit. This film was unbelievable.

Jackson is an incredibly talented director and writer; what he achieved with The Lord of the Rings was incredible, and with this film he's done at least the same. The Hobbit was brilliant, and if you're a fan with the genuine ability to think for yourself and not be influenced by critics/peers, you will like this film.

11 years 4 months ago

SteebHD

"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" have respected my expectations, it's an amazing movie, that respects the original Tolkien's work, and it is linked with the LOTR trilogy thanks to elements picked up by the Silmarillion and LOTR Appendices cleverly inserted by Peter Jackson!! Costumes, soundtrack, and interpretations were perfect, i loved Armitage as Thorin and Freeman as Bilbo! I watched the movie in HFR 3D, and I fully refute the criticism towards this new technology, it was amazing! It takes 10 minutes to get used to the eye, but the result was incredible! An image sharpness never seen before! Good job PJ, 9/10

11 years 4 months ago

MewSa

For those who mourned the end of the LOTR movie saga and missed this World, this will steal your heart again! It's really amazing... It's true, a small book for so many hours of film... But who really cares?? I wouldn't mind if they made a 1000 hour movie out ot LOTR... Who would?? if they want to do the book word by word, be my guest! I wasn't bored, it wasn't slow... if anything, it gives you time to really savor the details... I would infinitely stare at Rivendell even with no action, it's so beautiful, so well made... Oh well, it's perfectly made as usual, the characters are amazing and funny, the soundtrack... I'm listening to it non stop!! Like they say... haters will hate, but this one was made to love!

11 years 4 months ago