download the new for android The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

A meeting with the elf lord Elrond (Hugo Weaving) is expanded to include Rings veterans Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) and Saruman (Christopher Lee) in order that all may discuss the dark tidings sweeping the land, including the discovery of an evil relic: a 'Morgul-blade' forged for the Witch-King of Angmar. Indeed, it frequently seems as though Jackson was less interested in making The Hobbit than in remaking his own fabulously successful Lord of the Rings series. Even the spiders-whom we won't see in earnest until the next film-have been given backstory. Meanwhile, a mysterious necromancer has taken up residence in an abandoned fortress, and the woods themselves are showing signs of malignant influence. It's not enough that our heroes must fight a goiterous Great Goblin and his terrible horde they must do battle, too, with a brutal orc warlord who bears a longstanding grudge against Thorin. Once the party sets out on their journey, however, Jackson begins piling on layer after layer of extraneous action and incident.

(I could have lived without the frisbeeing of dinnerware, but I suppose the filmmakers had to do something with their CGI budget, and one can blow only so many smoke rings.) Initially reluctant to join Gandalf and the dwarves on their quest, Bilbo is eventually persuaded, going so far as to sign a contract disavowing any liability for 'injuries sustained, including but not limited to laceration, evisceration, and incineration.' Freeman makes for an amiable if not quite indelible Bilbo as Gandalf, Ian McKellen is Ian McKellen (as if you'd want him to be anyone else) and the dwarves-well, there are really too many to keep track of clearly: one is fat, one is old, one seems have absconded with Wyatt Earp's moustache, and their leader, Thorin (Richard Armitage) is not much fond of hobbits. Like the novel, Jackson's film opens tidily in the Shire, where Bilbo's home is casually invaded by the uninvited passel of dwarves, who proceed to demolish his larder. There are adventures along the way, of course-with trolls and goblins and spiders the size of suitcases-but none steer the band of adventurers terribly far from their intended path.

Bilbo (Martin Freeman) leaves the comfort of his hobbit-hole in the sunny Shire to join Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and a baker's dozen of dwarves on a quest to slay a dragon and reclaim its golden hoard. The original tale was a slender, simple one.

Download the new for android The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey