Der Hobbit - Eine unerwartete Reise

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) is a movie I originally saw in theaters, is in my DVD collection and I recently rewatched with my daughter on HBOMAX. The storyline for this picture involves our old friend, Bilbo Baggins, as a youth when Gandalf the wizard shows up at his door about an adventure. Bilbo says no but that night 12 dwarfs show up at his door and tells him a story about a dragon that stole their homeland and gold. They would like to return home, regain their kingdom and need Bilbo's help to make that happen. Bilbo will try to say no, but we all know he can't.

This movie is directed by Peter Jackson (Bad Taste) and stars Martin Freeman (Black Panther), Ian McKellen (X-Men), Andy Serkis (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), Richard Armitage (Into the Storm), Graham McTavish (Rambo) and James Nesbitt (Match Point).

The settings, cast, special effects, attire and props in this are absolutely out of this world. The introduction of the characters is hilarious and very well done. I adored how well the perception of the characters of each other is depicted and how that evolves over time. There's some war scenes in this that's awesome and every scene with the orcs riding the wolves is tremendous. The goblin king sequence in the cave is well executed and it's impossible not to love the riddle game with Gollum. The final battle at the cliff was perfect.

Overall, this is an underrated gem that gets overshadowed by the greatness of Lord of the Rings. I would score this a 9/10 and strongly recommend it.

I never came around to read the LotR books before watching the movies and I actually haven't done that until now (so maybe shame on me), but I did read 30-40 pages of the Hobbit. And it seems, like almost everyone of those pages turns out to be in the movie. It's a big scene and it feels like Peter Jackson put almost everything in it. He apparently also put other Tolkien related stuff in it.

Which he must have done, because how could you make 3 movies/parts out of one book? That is smaller in size than the original Rings trilogy that is. But what about the movie? It feels fun and it looks good (once you get used to the HD framing, which makes a few props look very plastic). Also the very HD 3D (or should I say the extra FPS) we got served made the movie feel like it was on fast forward. I think your eyes have to get used to that (in comparison to normal frames per Second that every other movie uses).

Apart from the technical point of view, this is a well made movie, but it never completely touched me. It is well played and it has the beginning of a great adventure, but it feels a bit over bloated. I will obviously watch the other parts too and I'm pretty sure they will up the ante

Edit: rewatching it a decade later, I realize I may have been a bit too harsh on the rating. I guess I do that with big budget movies. I can attest that I reckon I got used to the Higher Frame Rate the movie uses. Not that many movies have adapted that style (I reckon Avatar 2 will), but it is what it is. Technically you can fault the movie and the extended version was quite nice to see (so I guess it wasn't a literal rewatch - no pun intended).

I Remember the first time i watched this movie in the cinema and i did not like it as much i thought i would! Maybe it was because my hopes were very high after LOTR and while this movie gad elements from that, it didn't reach the same level in terms of story and visuals!

Jacksons overuse of CGI sometimes pull me out of it, but its not as bad as the third movie, which almost gives me headaches!

But over the time i have learned to like the movie and look past its flaws! Compared to the first season of Rings of Power this movie is deffinetely not bad, and does a better job of conveying a story with characters you care about! When it comes to the source material this movie doesn't drag as much as the others! The scenes with gollum are "hands down" the best part of the movie!

Overall a great fantasy experience that still excists in the shadow of its predecacors but entertains none the less!

It's definitely no LOTR...But it's still a pretty cool movie. Sure, it took it's time to try to tell the story and dragged on for a little too long, but other than that, the special effects were great, and it was entertaining as hell. It's a good introduction to The Hobbit franchise.

Let me start by saying that i have never watched any of the Lord of The Rings movies before.I was told to start with the hobbit. I was amazed at how cool this franchise must be as i loved every minute of it.I kinda feel ashamed for not giving this series a try earlier. 8/10 from me ,yeah that good.