The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

I read The Hobbit for the first time at 19. I loved the book and then went on to read The Lord of the Rings, but I never got in to The Silmarillion, although I did attempt it on two different occassions. I love The Lord of the Ring Trilogy and have all three on DVD as extended versions. I was thrilled that The Hobbit was being made and tonight my husband and I finally got to see it. It did not disappoint. We accidently showed up to see it in 3D, so we had to pay extra-- $13 per ticket. There was a different feel to this movie, and I don't think it was just 3D. I believe it was filmed using a different technology than the LOTR trio. The movie starts a bit slow but goes quickly even after nearly 3 hours longs and thats only part one. I believe there is added information from both LOTR books and/or The Silmarillion. Peter Jackson is certainly not in a hurry to tell this story. The landscapes are lush and saturated. My favorite is the flying scenes with the eagles. The action scenes are very computer generated, almost game like sequencing of running, jumping, hitting, repeat, but the acting is fine. There were plenty of chuckles which reminded me that I had read The Hobbit to the girls back in the late 90's. They loved it and wanted to read LOTR. We never finished the first book, though. It was heavier and not nearly as fun and maybe a bit more scary. The only real disappointment that came was the end. We'll have to wait until next christmas to see part 2.