Film Review – The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

2001’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” was a genuine
moviemaking risk. The first chapter of an expensive, unproven trilogy,
the picture carried an extraordinary level of doubt alien to most
features, with the fate of a studio and the career of director Peter
Jackson tied to its success. But it hit, hit huge, becoming one of the
biggest movies of the noughties, while commencing a bold fantasy series
that helped to redefine epic filmmaking for an entire generation. At
least the Extended Cuts did. We don’t speak of the Theatrical Cuts
anymore. “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” marches into theaters 11
years later, only now there’s a different type of pressure on the
financiers and Jackson: expectations. They be a brutal mistress, matey,
yet “Journey” manages the weight with some degree of grace, making sure
longtime fans are sated while urging the prequel into directions unique
to this new trilogy of hobbit and dwarf travel. So bust out the elf
ears, heat up a square of lembas, and pack in the pipe-weed. It’s
finally time to return to Middle-earth. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com