"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" is certainly the most expected movie of the last 5 years. The prequel to the Lord of the Ring triology was highly anticipated.
Although most of the (new) cast was fairly unknown it was spot on. In particular Richard Armitage manages to impress. He easily takes on the role as the "fighting hero" "Thorin" and doesn't have to fear comparison with Viggo Mortensen's Aragorn. Martin Freeman nails every scene as young Bilbo Baggins closing the gap between Ian Holm and himself. He mimics Holm's moves perfectly giving them the dynamics of a younger version of Bilbo. His facial expressions are priceless and hopefully this movie will get him the public recognition he deserves. Ian McKellen is brilliant as always and including Ian Holm and Elijah Wood in the beginning was a clever move by Peter Jackson to connect this movie even further to the original triology.
Although we already see Gimli fighting in Lord of the Rings the constant arguing with Legolas turned it into a sort of comic relieve, a good one, don't get me wrong. In this movie we see the dwarves fighting seriously for the first time and it is fantastic. Without loosing the charactics eastablished in Lord of the Rings they are lifted to central heroes and it works.
The additions and alterations to the story in comparison to the novel are fitting and organic. The story is fast paced without ever being hectic. I am certain many purists will be upset with them but in my opinion this is an interpretation of the novel, that works perfectly.
For me the only real downside it that the proportions between the dwarves, the hobbits and humans that were so carefully established in Lord of the Rings, don't always match in this movie.
All in all the movie is awesome, although it lacks a little of the magic that made the Lord of the Rings unique, but since it is barely the exposition to new triology this can be forgiven. Peter Jackson has once more proven that he is a great director with an eye for details only few possess.
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