"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" is great fun, but doesn't compare to "The Lord of the Rings"

The long wait and all the hype is finally over and now audiences are able to return to Middle-Earth with the first film in Peter Jackson’s new epic trilogy, “The Hobbit.” Is the trip to Bag End and onward worth the price of admission? Absolutely. Does it live up to the high expectations set by its predecessors? Not quite.

To make a long, 2-hour-and-46-minute story short, “An Unexpected Journey”is about the hobbit Bilbo Baggins as he accompanies the wizard Gandalf and a band of dwarves on a quest to get their gold and their kingdom back from a monstrous dragon.

What makes the movie so good is that it feels like coming home again. Even casual fans of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy will enjoy seeing familiar sights and characters again. The cast is impressive as always, and they pull off making dwarves and wizards and elves seem believable. Once again, the special effects are mostly amazing. At this point I had to convince myself that Gollum was a digital creation – he is truly the most realistic CG character ever put on film.

Some of the film’s weaknesses are that the effects are usually so good that when they aren’t, they seem even worse in comparison. Nothing is quite as realistic as Gollum. At times the action can feel a little bloated, and some of the scenes drag out a bit longer than they need to.

The worst part of the film is a ridiculous wizard named Radagast. He has a nest under his hat with bird feces caked around his hair, a habit of crossing his eyes, and also really likes smoking the pipe, so to speak. Usually the shift in tone from more kid-friendly to more adult isn’t so abrupt in the film – unless Radagast is on screen.

All of these are not major drawbacks, however. As a whole, the film is great entertainment, and if it doesn’t make you excited for the next installment, then you are probably very jaded and prefer movies about people sitting around and talking anyway.

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