Academy Award-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson has refined his recipe for delivering up “epic” on a platter.
After winning the Best Picture Oscar for the third installment of The Lord of the Rings triology, Jackson took on the task of turning its prequel, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit into a three-part story as well. The story takes place in Middle-earth 60 years before the Lord of the Rings and starts as our hero old Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm) is writing his story to give to his nephew, Frodo (Elijah Wood). A story that starts out as Gandalf the Grey (Ian Mckellen) has determined that young Bilbo (Martin Freeman) is the missing link in a dangerous mission that he is undertaking in order to help twelve Dwarfs and their legendary warrior/king, Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) reclaim their home, the lost Kingdom of Erebor. The tiny Bilbo has to find and prove his place in the group while along the way discover the courage and strength that surprise even him. It’s a story of many layers, twists and turns, and friendship for the inexperienced and un-expectant hobbit.
As expected Andy Serkis reprises his role as the iconic Gollum. As well as Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Christopher Lee as Saruman, and Hugo Weaving as Elrond are all found within the tale.
A good thing about Jackson deciding to turn J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit into a three-part saga is that he can stay true to the details of the book. However, even for someone who has never read any of the books, like myself, this movie was an enjoyable whirlwind of action, interesting characters, and amazing visuals.
Like the LOTR series it was action packed and high intensity all the way through. It moved from one intense battle to the next, but at the same time left room for the light and humorous moments that left you really liking the main characters—no matter how strage or awkward they first seemed to you. They also threw in a few morals for the fun of it I guess (or maybe that was the point of the book.)
I saw this in 3D and at first (like all live action 3D films) it was hard to get used to and hurt my head. I wouldn’t go see that version again but as time when on, I did get used to it and was able to enjoy the dazzling visuals. Golem looked amazing. I was spellbound and blown away at the quality of his animation. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. Special effects all around were beautiful and quite seamless. I would like to give a special shout out and major props to the sound editing department on this film. What they did gave me chills on multiple occasions.
All together I give it 3.5 stars. It wasn’t my favorite movie of the year—maybe because I’m a girl who has never read the books—but by all means it is definetly worth watching in theaters.
★★★ 1/2
Chelsea Robson
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