The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Posted by Charmaine Blake on Jan 24th, 2012 in Action Adventure, Adapted from a Book, Fantasy, New Releases | 0 comments

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is another amazing film directed by Oscar Award Winner Peter Jackson. This much anticipated film will bring the fans of the Lord Of The Rings Trilogy another unexpected journey to the fantasy world of hobbits, dwarves, elves, men and so much more. People are already talking about this wonderful prequel to LOTR Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will create another world wide sensation as it comes to the big screen on December 14th 2012. Here’s an early news on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey from Ben Child:

“Tolkien’s Hobbit is a very different tale to its later, darker sequel – a gentle, often whimsical children’s yarn with an almost Brothers Grimm-like quality. Even in the midst of Mirkwood or the depths of the misty mountains, there is very little real horror in its telling: Bilbo Baggins, a wizard named Gandalf and a cavalcade of dwarves may journey into extreme peril, but their travails are always presented as if through the cosy, fuzzy prism of a child’s glass bauble. We’re never in any doubt that, no matter how bad things get, it is all part of a wonderful adventure. There’s very little of the sinister overtone and sense of irredeemable loss that pervades the book’s brilliantly icy and expansive sequels.

Tolkien did re-edit The Hobbit to take account of the shift in emphasis seen in the Lord of the Rings, but a second, more extensive rewrite in which he tried to bring the two works closer together in storytelling style was left abandoned when the author realised he was destroying the idiosyncracies that made The Hobbit a joy. From the opening frame of the trailer it’s clear Jackson has finished the job, but crucially it does not appear he has overcooked his attempt to make An Unexpected Journey feel like a movie set in a recognisable celluloid Middle-earth.

Howard Shore’s stirring, sumptuous orchestral themes are instantly recognisable from the earlier films, and the Shire doesn’t appear to have changed one bit since The Return of the King. I always liked Gandalf the Grey rather better than his more ethereal counterpart, Gandalf the White, and The Hobbit is a fabulous opportunity to return Ian McKellen to one of his most recognisable roles, huge prosthetic conk and all. The dwarves look suitably jolly, though rather more youthful and fresh-faced than I’d imagined them. Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield has a certain Aragornish regality to him that I did not expect, though it makes a sort of sense in the context of the later films. We only get a brief glimpse of Andy Serkis’s Gollum, whose treatment will be central to Jackson’s task. Should he – and can he – be less sinister than the miserable creature of Lord of the Rings? There’s no sign of the dragon Smaug, whom one would expect to appear in the second film, There and Back Again.

The one area I’m not quite sure about is the singing. Tolkien peppered The Hobbit’s prose with numerous dwarvish songs, and the Lord of the Rings had its fair share of poetic chants and ditties. Jackson wisely left most of them out – I think I’m right in saying that the most obvious example is Aragorn’s cringeworthy croon in The Return of the King – but this time around he’s clearly embracing the twee. The dwarves’ song is at the heart of the trailer, and it doesn’t seem so out of place.
It’s worth pointing out, however, that those who already find more whimsy than wonder in this film series are likely to find the new movie even more ridiculous than the earlier trilogy. The sight of so many grown men dressed as fairytale homunculi is ripe for piss-taking on a grand scale, yet Jackson is undeniably right to adopt a slightly cheerier, more comic atmosphere this time around. It seems to me that An Unexpected Journey looks just about “Hobbity” enough to please fans of the earlier book and those who want to see a more epic Rings-style adventure. What do you think?

You can read the full article at The Guardian

Stay tuned for the latest update on the new movie “John Carter”

Charmaine Blake loves movies, musical theater listening to music and taking pictures of anything that she finds interesting. She is a voracious reader and writer, and enjoys her time writing for New Movie Launches. Charmaine loves spending time with her pets and currently has a Siberian Husky, a toy poodle and a cat.