Courtesy | filmvoid.com

Expectations are a funny thing — they firmly shape the way we perceive something, either making or breaking the overall experience. Sometimes expectations are too great, other times they aren’t tough enough. In terms of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” I believe the movie is what you make it. How do you possibly follow the majesty of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy? With its prequel, of course, which director Peter Jackson has also made into a three-part franchise. The difference here is that “The Hobbit” is a solitary book, while the “Lord of the Rings” was an intentional series of books. Many wondered how it would work to take a single book and extract three feature-length films from it — this is where expectation comes in.

Captivating with new and maintaining original wonder

The first “Hobbit” installment, titled “An Unexpected Journey,” introduces the young Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), who is portrayed in the LOTR as an elderly Hobbit (Ian Holm). Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen) the Grey, along with twelve mangy dwarves, comes knocking at Bilbo’s door, disturbing his quiet solitude with talks of adventure. The dwarves, led by King Thorin (Richard Armitage), are determined to reclaim their lost mountain city of Erebor, conquered and claimed long ago by the dragon Smaug. Why must Bilbo go? Gandalf sells him as a crafty burglar to the troop, but really the Wizard just wants to inspire greatness in the little Hobbit. So they embark on their quest, unaware of the trials that lay ahead – including a run-in with the famous Gollum (Andy Serkis).

My concern going into “Hobbit” was that it would stray too far from the quality of the original trilogy. This is an entirely new story, and Jackson clearly did not want to reproduce the same kind of material as LOTR. People are fickle and while they crave continuity from directors and anticipated sequels, they also expect new things to fascinate and captivate their imaginations. Jackson achieves this with “Hobbit,” which really is a movie all its own, yet at the same time maintains the wonder and beauty of LOTR. While Jackson was not originally onboard to direct, I think it’s fitting that he did; this man seems tied to Middle-Earth, potentially the only filmmaker with enough vision to bring it to cinematic life.

Music brings depth to film

In addition to projecting the nostalgia set by LOTR, “Hobbit” is special because of its music. Much like Jackson is the one man to bring Tolkien to the screen, none but composer Howard Shore could write the kind of music that triggers so much emotion and adrenaline in this particular audience. “Hobbit” had bits of its own original soundtrack, specifically a Dwarf-ballad that plays as the movie’s primary theme. Still, to hear the same score that was used in the original trilogy recalled the  excitement of those movies. It wasn’t overdone or overly-sentimental, but true to the visuals and excessively fun to recognize as a longtime LOTR fan.

Some people will be disappointed by “An Unexpected Journey.” Reasons why vary from its drawn-out narrative to its arguably more childish dynamic than LOTR. What people must realize is that books are unbelievably hard to make into movies. Any piece of literature as detailed and complex as Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” can and should be made into more than one movie, because trying to fit all of it into a three-hour timeframe would be doing it injustice. “The Hobbit” as a novel was arguably denser in story than the individual LOTR books, and even the LOTR movies each had to leave out much of Tolkien’s material.

“Hobbit” far less raw than “Lord of the Rings”

Another thing to be considered is that this story is much less raw than the adult themes explored in both the LOTR books and movies. Tolkien intended “The Hobbit” to read as more of a children’s book, with silly characters and over-the-top set pieces — Jackson accomplished both of these things on the screen, and I realized while watching that to have expected the same seriousness displayed in LOTR would have been foolish.

I’ve respectively covered a lot of ground here, so let it be made clear that I thoroughly enjoyed “The Hobbit.” I loved it because it gave me new things to rave about as well as familiarities that had me recalling just how incredible the LOTR series was to behold. Thank goodness that essentially the same production team came back to flesh out this new Hobbit trilogy, or else the magic of it may have never been properly achieved. While I know it is also being shown in 48 fps and in 3D, I myself saw in a standard theater. The movie is visually stunning enough in standard, but I assume 3D would add a certain richness to it and 48 fps a glossy, dream-like tone.

If you love fantasy, adventure, humor, excitement and plenty of vividly imagined computer graphics, then you will love “Hobbit.” But above all else, if you loved the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy then this newest installment of that universe will more than likely have you smiling and cheering. Sit back and enjoy the ride.