Movie Review: The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey

The Hobbit

J.R.R. Tolkien

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.

Directed by Peter Jackson

Screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro

When news came out that they were going to make a movie of The Hobbit, I was gobsmacked. Yes! Yes! Yes! At that time, Peter Jackson was only on-board as a producer and they were looking to Guillermo del Toro to direct the film. I liked what del Toro did with Pan's Labyrinth (which still gives me a sense of wonder and puzzlement every time I watch it) but I was still rooting for Peter Jackson to be director since, you know, he's the original director.
News came when del Toro left the directorial seat (although he was still credited as one of the writers) because of delays and Jackson became the director. I breathed a sigh of relief. I was a bit apprehensive about making The Hobbit into a trilogy since, as anyone who read The Hobbit, it's really a children's book with a very simple storytelling. How would they do that? they said that there are a lot of materials to be covered if you're going to include things that are not to be found strictly on the main Hobbit book but in other Middle-Earth universe books that cover roughly the same time-period. After all, in the first trilogy we saw things that were not in the books at all or were replaced or were in other Tolkien materials.
I will not gush about the cinematography (OMG THE COLORS AND THE FREAKING LANDSCAPES... ahem. Ooooh, I recognize that spot it is where Aragorn and company ran cross-country) and the soundtrack (the singing dwarves and the bits we recognize from the original soundtrack), since we all know the style and trademark that's very evident which is the legacy of the first trilogy. The thing is the fandom for this particular movie all boiled down to these people:

Here we have Watson smoking some pipeweed.

Somehow Sherlock got turned into a dragon. Honestly, I just want to hear Benedict Cumberbatch's voice.

I imagined Thorin to be on the old side, with salt and pepper hair. This is not what I imagined. This is better.

This pair of brothers are there to satisfy the eye-candy requirement. Not that I'm complaining.

But nothing can compare to the fabulous(ness) of Thranduil whose close-eyes-turn-head action fluttered Tumblr hearts. See what I mean here.

Kidding aside, while it was bitin or I was left hanging in the end I still enjoyed the movie and was quite satisfied.