The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Into a Film I Thought I Would Hate But I Didn't)

I fear I have given too much away in the title. My first review will be of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, because I saw it last night for free (thanks dad) and it may be a while before I get to visit the cinema again due to the Camden Odeon's ridiculously inflated prices (rant over; I promise this will not become a consistent theme). So, The Hobbit. I am a MASSIVE Lord of the Rings fan (for two reasons, see below)...

...so I was a bit wary when I heard Peter Jackson was going to be making The Hobbit. My wariness went into full on disbelief and scepticism when I heard he was going to be making the book (which is what, 200 pages?) into THREE FILMS. THREE FILMS which will no doubt be compared to the THREE FILMS of the LOTR, which made sense to be in THREE FILMS because there are THREE BOOKS and not ONE BOOK which is shorter than any of the books in the LOTR series anyway. Arghh! However, I was proved (kind of) wrong. The Hobbit is good! Very Good! Jackson, you did it again, you genius! (kind of).

BAD POINTS:

• No dwarf character development: Dwarf blends into dwarf blends into dwarf (with the example of the Legolas dwarf and the Richard Armitage dwarf). At the end of the first LOTR film, I was very sad when Borimir died, even if he was a bit of a tool. If any of the dwarves, save the two named above, had died at the end of this film, I wouldn't have cared at all / would have laughed (if it was the fat one, who had no lines and was pointless, and let's face it, if he was that fat he wouldn't have been able to keep up with them on their unexpected journey, and who I hated). 
• TOO LONG: Way too long. Felt like 4 hours. Took an hour for Bilbo to leave The Shire. But, let's face it, this is always going to happen with a Jackson film, and I didn't get bored or restless in the cinema. Point is, there was alot of stuff they could have cut out, and it wouldn't have mattered to the plot or tone of the film.
• It looks animated: A New York film critic wanted it to be put forward to win an award as best animated film. Haha. I agree. God knows what kind of technological fiddling they did with the exposure, but it made for a very confusing viewing experience. Wait, is this animated? Is that a cartoon character dwarf? No, because Gandalf looks exactly the same...But now its animated again! Is this a mixture of cartoon characters and normal characters? Are the normal characters in a cartoon setting? Is this a playstation game? What is going on?!? Particularly bad was the 'Goblin King'. I didn't see it in 3D, but it has being described to me as a 'roller coaster', eg. brightly coloured fantasy nightmare. 
• There is no way these two dwarfs are the same race: 

I

I'm sorry, no. You cannot make up what dwarfs look like as you go along. The one on the left is the Suprisingly-good-looking-Legolas dwarf I mentioned earlier, the one on the right is...I don't know. But not the same race as the other one. Don't even get me started on what James Nesbitt looks like. 

NOW FOR THE GOOD POINTS. 

• Gollum: I had heard before I went that the Bilbo-Gollum scene was the highlight of the film, and I wasn't disappointed. I guess because he still has the ring, he is a lot funnier than in the LOTR. Sometimes during the course of the film I wanted to take Gollum home and keep him as a pet. Despite this, he still manages to be very, very scary. Well played, Andy Serkis.  
• Gandalf: He beheads an orc with a stick. Haha. 
• Martin Freeman: Always makes me laugh how much his name sounds like Morgan Freeman's. 

Bilbo? 

Anyway, Martin Freeman was great. Very very funny, and very likeable towards the end. Much more fun than Frodo, the snivelling pansy man child. 

• Haunting Dwarf Mountain Song in Hobbit Hole. 
• Frodo: It was great to see Frodo, only because I hate Frodo, so it was fun knowing what lies in wait in his future when he was merrily skipping towards the forest to meet Gandalf (which, incidentally, was a clever way to tie it in to the LOTR). Enjoy the ring, the ring wraiths, Moria, seeing Gandalf die, almost letting Sam drown, Gollum, the spider, your own weakening self-will, the fire of Mount Doom, and having your finger bitten off Frodo.  

Hehe. 

• Landscape: Beautiful, epic, enchanting, adjective adjective adjective. You will be blown away by it. 

Overall, I was surprised with how much I enjoyed the film. Its no LOTR, but for an adaption of a kid's book, and with LOTR to live up to, its great. Still not sure how he is going to drag it into three films though, but I guess we will have to wait and see.