The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

To the Summary!
Bilbo Baggins, a rather ordinary Hobbit, is chosen to go on an adventure to help the Dwarves reclaim their homeland.

To the Cast!
Ian McKellen - Gandolf
Martin Freeman - Bilbo
Richard Armitage - Thorin
Ian Holm - Old Bilbo
Elijah Wood - Frodo
Hugo Weaving - Elrond
Cate Blanchett - Galadriel
Christopher Lee - Saruman
Andy Serkis - Gollum
Sylvester McCoy - Radagast

To the Deeper Thoughts!

At long last, we have the prequel to The Lord of The Rings.  The Hobbit tells the story of Bilbo Baggins, uncle to Frodo.  See, Bilbo was a quite little Hobbit, enjoying good food, good drink and the quiet of his little Hobbit hole.

That is, until Gandolf shows up.

Gandolf is in the company of a group of Dwarves.  And the Dwarves need help.  Turns out when you have a whole underground cavern filled to bursting with gold, Smaug the dragon will come and take up residence.  Understandably, the dwarves are upset by this and aim to re-claim their home.

To do this, they require the help of a thief, in this case Bilbo.  Not sure what he has to steal, but we have two other movies for that.

There's a party, some traveling to Rivendell, some Trolls, and Orcs, and oh ya.  That Gollum guy.  Then the movie ends, so lets get ready for part two!

I liked this.  I felt it was right up there with The Lord of The Rings.  Which makes sense given how  pretty much everybody came back to work on this film.  Visually this is a stunning movie.

Speaking of visuals...

I declined to see this in 48fps 3D.  I enjoyed it in good old fashioned 2D.

Now, lets be honest.  The one part we were all looking forward to in this movie.  The meeting between Bilbo and Gollum.  This was a great scene.  Subtle and not to overplayed it was a great re-introduction to Gollum.

Its tough to write a decent review for this one.  Being the first in a trilogy, you can't yet judge the whole.  But, so far, we are off to a good start.