By Claire DeRoin– Finish up your second breakfast and get ready for a movie! The film adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” is out on DVD Tuesday, March 19th.
In this first installment of what will be another Peter Jackson trilogy on par with “the Lord of the Rings,” Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), a Hobbit living in the always uneventful Shire, is recruited by a wizard (Ian McKellen) to join a band of dwarves on an adventure. Smaug the dragon has taken over the dwarves’ underground city, and stolen their treasure. Dwarves and wizards are good enough fighters, but neither race would make as good a spy as a Hobbit. That’s where Bilbo comes in.
A secondary storyline follows Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), the leader of the pack of dwarves. Thorin is out to avenge his family and to take back his kingdom at any cost. He is the most doubtful of Bilbo’s helpfulness, even as the Hobbit starts showing his worth.
While some of the fight scenes were rather cheesy, specifically a brawl between rock giants that resemble Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, the overall CGI effects were done well. The goblins and trolls looked every bit as realistic as they did in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, which set an almost impossibly high standard.
Andy Serkis reprises his role as Smeagol/Gollum, and for those of you familiar with the book, the “Riddles in the Dark” scene where Bilbo wins the Ring in a game of wits is absolute perfection.
Complete with dinner parties, dwarf sing-alongs, troll hijinks, Hobbit trickery, and of course, a fire-breathing dragon, “An Unexpected Journey” will leave you antsy to run off on an adventure of your own.
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