So I managed to check out the Hobbit not too long ago in the theater. It did take me some time I'll admit.

After watching the three-hour epic, I wasn't exactly sure on how I felt about the movie. I knew I liked it, yet the film felt weird. I'm not sure on the exact reason, but I believe it was the flow. It felt off. Of course, The Hobbit is a much different book than that of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Hobbit was J.R. Tolkien's first novel that was targeted for kids. As such, the events in the book detail simple challenges that are encountered and surpassed within each chapter. That being, it wasn't exactly the best material to turn into a three-part movie trilogy. Although, I do like what Jackson and company have done in terms of adding in more back story to the main trilogy by picking through the expanded works of Tolkien from The Silmarillion and The Unfinished Tales. It makes the proposed trilogy much more than it should in a good way, or at least that's what I think.

Getting back to the movie at hand, An Unexpected Journey takes a little while to get going and once it does, it becomes immediately clear that something's just a little off. I believe this first started when the dwarves started showing up. A few look like normal human beings, like that of the brooding Thorin, while others look like they were plucked from the pages of a Disney movie with their over-sized heads and fanciful almost cartoonish beards. The next couples of scenes then depict a pair of songs. The first a happy-mischievous song the dwarves sing about Bilbo's annoyance while the second a much more somber depressing ballad about their lost home the Lonely Mountain. It's this sort of dichotomy within the film the moves from one scene to the next - a light hearted scene followed by a serious moment with the Lord of the Rings epic music pumping in the background. It's a weird experience and one that I think Jackson and company weren't exactly sure on what kind of movie they wanted to make, a much more family friendly one like that from the source material or one that matched their masterful earlier work with Tolkien. Again, I'm not saying this is entirely a bad thing. I still enjoyed the movie overall.

The acting is spot on with props going out to Martin Freeman, who played Bilbo. The action is pretty standard. It's what you'd expect if you've seen the Lord of the Rings trilogy and other action films. Where the film really shines is the battle of wits between Bilbo and Gollum. Being able to see Andy Serkis work his magic again is still amazing. Not to mention seeing all of the familiar faces that show up is still great. I guess you could say I felt a good sense of nostalgia being able to see another adventure into Tolkien's rich world.

Getting down to the point, The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey is an interesting beast, one that suffered a little at the hands of its creators who didn't seem to be exactly sure on what kind of movie they wanted to make, and outside of taking a really long time to get the journey going, unexpected or not, it's an enjoyable tromp through Tolkien's Middle-Earth.