We are back to the Hobbits story and this is the first part of the story and the second best part for me with the middle section coming much higher up in the rankings but I will explain that in that review won’t I? This movie was the first part of the story was released in 2012 and was riding on the back of the success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy this had a budget of $315m but it went on to make $1.021b. Yep it’s that b for Billion again, so the next two had to happen really didn’t they. With another big success to his name director Peter Jackson cemented his name in cinema folklore forever. The film had many names starring in it including Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt, Ken Stott, Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood & Andy Serkis. Shall we have a check on the Tri-Critic Sync Challenge as this could have been one of the close one’s as IMDb gave it a 7.8/10 just two points difference but Rotten Tomatoes didn’t like it so much with a score of 64%, which blew that possibility out of the water. Seeing as there is not much else to do I guess I should try and give you the plot.
This story begins with Bilbo Baggins starting to write his memories for the benefit of his new nephew Frodo. The actual beginning of the story is when the King Dwarf Thrór had a lovely time in charge of his people under a mountain until a dragon named Smaug arrives and it not only takes over their home but also destroys a human town. Fleeing their mountain home the kid sees King Thranduil the king of the elves on a nearby hillside and is devastated that they leave rather than aiding him and his people. This results in the everlasting hatred of Elves. Gandalf the wizard arrives to see Bilbo who tricks him to hosting a band of Dwarves named Balin, Dwalin, Fíli, Kíli, Dori, Nori, Ori, Óin, Glóin, Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur. That’s twelve if you are counting. Whoops I can see me getting involved in too much detail again here. OK So basically the dwarves need a burglar to help them steal from the dragon. Of those that are aware of the story of the Lord of the Rings knows that Bilbo holds a ring that may well be able to assist him with this task. He doesn’t want to go but has a change of heart and joins them in their quest. Gandalf introduces them to the brown wizard who helps them along the way. The killer of Thrór is an Orc war lord who is now interested in starting the new war with this band of Dwarves travelling across the lands. Along with that the dragon still sleeps in the mountain with its piles of gold. The journey begins with some adventures and risk to life for just trying to get from one place to another.
OK you get the point and I will explain that these are truly epic movies and I use this word many times with these movies and I really band it about but I truly believe they are!! The issue I have with the Hobbit movies is that I cannot get away from the feeling that this movie didn’t need to be as long as it is. There is lots of extra bits in this movie that really doesn’t need to be there. As mentioned in the review of the third part this is at most a two movie story and they have extended it beyond that limit and have stretched it by three additional hours. There are scenes that take four pages of the book that take nearly an hour on the screen and it feels a bit epic for epic sake not epic because the story deserves it which to me is the difference between this story and the initial Lord of the Rings trilogy which in fact follows the Hobbit in terms of timeline. There are some great actors and some great action and a story that is portrayed as epic is a good well loved stories ok I struggled to get through it as a kid and again as an adult. Which is why the score is not up there with the Lord of the Rings trilogy which is yet to come for you (well and for me as well!)
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