Member review

Directed by Peter Jackson( Lord of the Rings and Tintin), starring Martin Freeman as Bilbo, Richard Armitage as Thorin and Ian McKellen as Gandalf The Hobbit-An Unexpected Journey tells the first part of Bilbo Baggins’ unexpected adventure and is based on the book by J.R.R. Tolkien.

The Hobbit trilogy are a prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. This film picks up with the first scene, slightly edited, of the first Lord of the Rings movie. This was a great way to start the film as we can tell already that this film bears a great significance on previous films in the franchise.

Bilbo, a 50 year old hobbit is happy living in bag end in Hobbiton, but Gandalf the wandering wizard knows he secretly longs to relive the adventures of his childhood. Thirteen dwarves give Bilbo the chance to do this by offering him the chance to become their burglar. They then set off on a quest to reclaim the mighty dwarf kingdom of Erebor from the dragon Smaug.

Places of happiness in this film-such as The Shire and Dale-have warm, vibrant colours, but in the retelling of battles the colours become muted and grey showing grief and loss.

During moments of fear in this film the camera goes above Bilbo and the dwarves’ height showing their size. During the time of Gandalf joining the dwarves at Bilbo’s home the camera angle shifts to inbetween their heights to also demonstrate their differences.

Bilbo’s character changes during this film so show him adapting to life with dwarves and also showing his courage and caring for the dwarves. None of this could have happened however if Gandalf hadn’t believed that he could also embrace the adventurous side of his family too.

The Hobbit is set in middle earth a fantasy realm, although the filming was done in New Zealand as the climates varied so much from each other in such a small area. Judging from the clothing of some characters this could be set in the Middle Ages, however Bilbo’s more comfortable and luxurious clothing seems more from Tolkien’s own time.

The sound in this film is based around the main Shire theme and the theme of Thorin’s company. This builds as the characters gain more confidence in each other and dies down when the doubt each other.

Overall, I think this a really good film as it is a great introduction to Tolkien’s world, although I think the Lord Of the Rings trilogy is better. In reality the Hobbit is actually a short book the producers have stretched this film out to fill three films. I would recommend this film to my friend as she likes fantasy films.