Now I'll say it, I'm a big Lord of the Rings fan, so as you can imagine, traveling back to Middle-Earth was like a dream come true...again. Though I'll admit, I didn't know a thing about The Hobbit having never read the book myself. Having said that, I found it to be an interesting tale about the adventures of a small hobbit. SPOILERS for anyone who hasn't seen it. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is about a young Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) who goes on a journey with a group of dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) to reclaim the Dwarven Kingdom of Erebor from the vicious dragon, Smaug. Bilbo is approached unexpectedly by Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) and is taken far from his home, where is runs into goblins, orcs, wargs, and even Gollum (Andy Serkis). And here is where Bilbo finds the mysterious One Ring. I enjoyed the film though it seemed a bit long. The only real issue I had with the film was the use of CGI. The orcs, especially the Pale Orc, didn't look like orcs! Not like the ones we grew to hate in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. In the original trilogy, the costumes and make-up of the orcs was what really made them terrifying and then for The Hobbit to make them all CGI was really disappointing. Instead of fearsome creatures, they came off as comical and "cartoonish." I understand that Jackson was probably aiming this movie towards a younger target audience and since the book itself is written for a younger audience that would make sense. It was a fun film, but it's leagues away from being the classic that was Jackson's original trilogy. 3.5/5 stars
