Movie Review: The Hobbit – An Unexpected Journey
My first movie review on this blog, and I must say that I am no professional movie reviewer, neither am I a J.R.R Tolkien fan. I haven’t read any of his books. I watched all three LoTR films though an I enjoyed them all.
It was interesting to browse the various reviews for this film, and to read the mixed opinions for it. Criticisms often centred around the expansiveness of the plot, viewed as a way for the studio to make more money out of the viewers.
For me, I enjoyed the slow pace of the plot. Perhaps I already went in with the expecation of this being the first of three films, and the time spent on the introduction to the film would need to be the introduction not to the film itself, but to the entire three film trilogy, so I didn’t have a problem with its lack of pace.
I like the way the director infused moments of humour in various situations, but never in a way that was too forced. It was interesting that there was a lot more singing incorporated into the film by the various characters (even by Gollum!) which seemed like a deliberate measure. I don’t remember any singing in the LoTR (I could be wrong though…). Perhaps the singing was a deliberate effort to relate to the roots of The Hobbitt as a children’s literary book.
I have a problem with the opening line of the title song though…. POOR WORDSETTING!! The first two words are “Far Over” with the word “over” having a wrong stress on the second syllable instead of the first! This really irked me, I must say, and made it sound so Singlish (Singaporean English)! I wouldn’t have expected this from a professional songwriter / composer…. it is really unbecoming.
All in all, I enjoyed the simple tale of the courage and the coming of age of an “insignificant” soul. The scenes all looked gourgeous and lush, especially with the doubling of the frame rate per second. Everything seemed to come to life, even if you watch it in non-3D.
The acting was decent, with the best performance again coming from Gollum, who stole the show with “their” short segment. 😛
The Hobbit was a good way to spend a day out with your loved one, and it really gives me the itch to re-watch the LoTR!
My Movie Rating: 8 / 10
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