![]() ![]() ![]() That tale begins six decades earlier, when the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) appears with a challenge for the younger Bilbo (Freeman), leaving a magic sign that brings a swarm of dwarves to the reluctant hero’s door. The film first locates him in Bag End, the cozy home in the Shire where the eleventy-one-year-old halfling hero (played briefly by Ian Holm and accompanied by Elijah Wood’s Frodo) narrates the adventure that first brought Hobbits into the affairs of Middle-earth’s more bellicose species. ![]() Conjured by Jackson and returning co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens (credited along with Guillermo del Toro, who at one point planned to direct) for the sake of spectacle, this unnecessary pre-title sequence recalls setpieces from the second and third “Lord of the Rings” movies, as if to assure fans they can expect more of the same - and sure enough, “The Hobbit” offers familiar run-ins with orcs, trolls, goblins and even Gollum before interrupting the adventure halfway to its destination, the Lonely Mountain, to make room for the next installment.īut Bilbo’s “unexpected journey” is awfully slow to start. ![]() Tolkien’s delightful yet easier-going novel, written with young readers in mind, recounts the relatively simple tale of how Bilbo Baggins (“The Office’s” Martin Freeman, affable as ever) traveled with dwarves to face the dragon Smaug and, in so doing, came to acquire the fabled ring.Ī mythologically dense, CG-heavy prologue details how Smaug raided the dwarf stronghold of Erebor, taking possession of the Arkenstone, a glowing gem of ambiguous power. Whereas “ The Lord of the Rings” naturally divided into the three books, “ The Hobbit” contains scarcely enough story to support a single feature, as those who recall Rankin/Bass’ 1977 animated made-for-TV version know all too well. success seems all but assured for a franchise that has already commanded nearly $3 billion in worldwide grosses, splitting the source material into multiple pics here mimics a frustrating trend among lucrative fantasy adaptations, from the two final “Harry Potter” films to the bifurcated “Twilight Saga” finale, stringing fans along with incomplete narratives. ![]()
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