The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Unexpected Journey) was released on the December 14, 2012 with much fanfare and enthusiasm. There is a well know colloquialism that ‘it is not the destination that matters but the journey’ which could well have been applied to Unexpected Journey. The movie is a breath taking experience, while it has of numerous key differences; it keeps the spirit of The Hobbit in this author’s opinion.
At its core The Hobbit is about leaving home, and discovering the world at large. Once discovering the world the realization there is truly no place like home, be it the Shire or Washington D.C. This concept is played upon heavily in the movie, with the interactions between Bilbo and the 13th Dwarves. Bilbo left the Shire almost on a whim, during his journey he was introduced to a harsh reality. The world is not all joyful as it is in his home and some of them do not even have a home.
During a conversation in the movie, Bilbo to his embarrassment told the Dwarves this and one replied “He is right.”
That is meant to be a realization, that Bilbo always would have comfortable Bag End to return to at the end of the day, the Dwarves on the other hand have no home to return to. Something people often take for granted but is a central theme to The Hobbit, were the Dwarves are not just retaking Erebor for the gold and riches, but for something more intangible, their home.
The overall movie was stunning, perhaps not as visually stunning as the original trilogy, with numerous of it sets. The city of Dale and Erebor being attacked by the dragon Smaug was visual masterpiece, Rivendell was jaw chopping, and the traversing of the Misty Mountains struck fear into even the stoutest dwarf.
Unexpected Journey also touched on another piece of Middle-Earth Lore, the Necromancer. The Necromancer was not seen in fully fleshed but its brief appearance left an indelible mark on the viewer. The Necromancer allowed Peter Jackson to introduce another character from the Tolkien mythos, the wizard Radagast the Brown.
Radagast was an incredible character who was clearly not of a sound mind, yet it was also shown he is just as capable as Gandalf and Saruman in his own right. Radagast goes into the Fortress of Dol Goldar were he engages in a duel with a malevolent spirit, known as Castellan. There were numerous other situations, but in spite of being ‘comic relief’ Radagast was shown to be serious when required for his duty. That truly captures the spirit of Tolkien’s Universe.
In addition to Jacksons add ons, the scene known to Hobbit lovers everyone as Riddles in the Dark was done perfectly. Gollum was portrayal fit right in the mold of the character, as did Bilbo the whole scene was perfectly choreographed and matched with the respective chapter.
However there were some situations where the movie failed to deliver. Most notably was the absence of Smaug. Jackson practically mocks the viewer by dangling Smaug without letting us see Smaug. The character known as of the Goblin King was too large, far too large, the character known as Azog was well and alive in the movie despite being slain years earlier in the novel.
There were other canon differences, Radagast appearing being one of those, but overall the movie was extremely well done and worth the price of admission.
