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    Breakdown:
  • So-so
    Written December 20, 2012

    Peter J drops it again

    by Amra

    In "The Hobbit" Mr. Jackson again moves forward on the assumption that he is a better storyteller than Tolkien, & he is, as ever, wrong. PJ deserves thanks for stunning visuals, due to his choice of John Howe and Alan Lee as lead designers, but "TH" has its furry feet tripped up by new/changed scenes crammed with cliches & clumsy exposition, even where the original scenes covered the same ground with evocative imagery & blessed brevity.
    The white orc's addition was actually clever, w/the weaving of him into the extant plot handled well, but many scenes were chopped w/o reason. PJ saved maybe 4 minutes running time by truncating many of JRRT's brilliant songs, many clever quips, & the main riddle in the riddle game, only to add a boring, clumsy intro that would have been better served as flashbacks in "Far over the Misty Mountains Cold". "15 Birds in 5 Fir Trees" & "Down, Down" were sorely missed! When Rankin-Bass' anime feels a truer tale than a $180M epic, something's very wrong.

    • 43 out of 81 found this review helpful.
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  • Must Go!
    Written December 15, 2012

    Worth the wait. Go see it.

    by knights7

    It was an amazing film worth waiting for. There is some changes from the book but not anything that changes the flow of the book's plot. And it had a breath taking story and special effects. If you like Gollum in the other three films you'll melt with this installment in the Lord of the Rings world. The story was awesome and left you rooting for the characters and biting your nails when they were in danger.
    Go SEE! Well worth your money.
    I will go see it again for sure.

    • 5 out of 5 found this review helpful.
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    Written January 11, 2013

    Surprising!

    by ShebaLatray

    I wasn't sure what to expect. We had warning some thngs had been added......
    I love that they kept the song the dwarfs sang about their home when they were at the Shire.
    I love that the ponies were so cute!
    The rock creatures were new and it added excitement to the movie....that was cool.
    That was an awesome angle on the view of Rivendale! Love it.
    The white ork was a twist, but he was scary if that's what they were going for.

    • 5 out of 5 found this review helpful.
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  • Must Go!
    Written December 15, 2012

    Well put together

    by agspalding

    Very well put together film. Acting is on par for Peter Jackon's previous movies. What I found to be beneficial was more back story to the characters from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. And the Orcs/goblins having a more central role I think is doing the series credit. Would be interesting to see more of the songs from the 1977 animated version injected into the next two movies. Might make the movie more campy, but who knows.

    • 5 out of 5 found this review helpful.
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  • Must Go!
    Written December 14, 2012

    Great movie!

    by

    This movie was definitely a good one - the acting, script, costumes, sets, digital art, and make-up were all superb. The few changes they made to the original plot were interesting, added to the drama, and kept me interested for the entire 3 hours! I will definitely see it again before it leaves theaters.

    • 6 out of 7 found this review helpful.
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    Written December 15, 2012

    Unexpected Journey for sure

    by MovieluvnCat

    Tolkien wrote a great story in one book. Jackson should not have tried to improve on Tolkien; he draws it out and adds too much and changes too much. There are many parts that are true to the story, and many other parts that are obvious attempts to tie this story to LOTR and other parts that I not sure where they come from - I haven't read all of the Silmarillion yet. LOTR had some changes but they were forgivable and many parts came from the Appendicies, whereas some of the Hobbit ones are hard to swallow. But all that being said I will go see it again and let myself be entertained by Jackson even though it is only loosely Tolkien's story.

    • 5 out of 5 found this review helpful.
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  • Must Go!
    Written December 14, 2012

    Great movie

    by joshua.olewnik12

    This movie was awesome, I had been waiting for it since I was about 12. There were a few parts where the story was expanded and even altered for the sake of the movie, but overall it was a great investment. So if you have 10-20 dollars and a few hours to spare, go see The Hobbit!!

    • 6 out of 7 found this review helpful.
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  • Must Go!
    Written December 15, 2012

    Unexpected

    by nutellanlemons

    I was just forced to see this movie with my friend because she loves lord of the rings. At first I thought it seemed like a lame movie. HOWEVER, during the movie my heart couldn't stop beating because of all the action scenes. It was disappointing that the movie took so long yet didn't actually complete the book. But overall, VERY WELL MADE

    • 6 out of 7 found this review helpful.
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  • Must Go!
    Written December 14, 2012

    The Hobbit

    by grob212

    This show delivered in every way I expected. Great story (love the way they broke the book down for the first segment of three installments), the main characters were well developed (even the newer ones), great action scenes, AMAZING cinematography - Peter Jackson transports us to Middle Earth with supreme skill and confidense. The movie slowly leaves the station, allowing us to reframe a bit from the Lord of the Rings connection, but then starts picking up the pace and never looks back. Definitely looking forward to the next movie!

    • 5 out of 5 found this review helpful.
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  • Must Go!
    Written December 14, 2012

    The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

    by junkster775

    The film was good. Definitely a must see to continue your story line of the Tolkien Saga. However, I felt that some aspects of this film were lacking. Most specifically, all the enemies were CGI. I really thought this took away from the film after how the enemies were done in Lord of the Rings.

    • 5 out of 5 found this review helpful.
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  • Must Go!
    Written December 15, 2012

    As good as the Rest.

    by

    My grandson and I went to see "The Hobbit" yesterday afternoon and being Tolkein fans thought this movie was a good prequel. Worth seeing. Not as detailed as the other three but for us it was captivating.

    • 5 out of 5 found this review helpful.
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  • Must Go!
    Written January 11, 2013

    And We're Walking...

    by

    Yes, there is a lot of walking in this just like in The Lord Of The Rings trilogy. The journey is just begining as this is the first movie. I liked the movie over all. There are a few more tangents of explanation than I expected, but it is the first movie so there's going to be exposition.
    This movie seems good for any age, although some scenes might make little ones a bit nervous.
    The acting was well done. I especially like how Bilbo is portrayed; it seems very close to the character in the book. I also like the continuity with LOTR that is created by the sets, using the same actors, and a scene or two. I wasn't sure about the singing at first(although it is in the book) but it grew on me.
    Watching this made me want to read the book again, and I'm excited to see the next movie.

    • 6 out of 7 found this review helpful.
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    Written December 24, 2012

    Hobbit

    by hmcquist

    In the long run I did like the movie quite a lot and would recommend it to be seen, I will say that it took a little while to get the plot running.

    • 5 out of 5 found this review helpful.
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    Written December 17, 2012

    Better than Expected

    by cina-ma

    I was not especially interested in seeing this film. However, I was really pleasantly surprised. Yes, we whiz through dozens of exciting adventure, one after another; excellent graphics and creativity, but a tendency to get tedious after almost 3 hours.
    What saves this movie, however, is that the story revolves around wonderful characters who are lovingly portrayed, and their growing connection to each other. And yes, the battles whiz by, you get the impression, but do not suffer through excessive graphic violence.

    • 5 out of 5 found this review helpful.
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    Written December 17, 2012

    Standard love and hate when one story gets split into multiple movies

    by Asmodeus1971

    It was slow, it took its time to introducing the characters and story line. So to those who don't like stories and just want action from the get go stay at home. It was an OK stand alone movie but could be great with the collection of the series. It had a lot of visuals that were impressive and had some good fight scenes toward the end. Since it is an installment of the whole it leaves you hanging at the end. May not be the best movie to take small children to the theater to see, it is rather slow moving for at least the first half of the movie and may not keep their interest. Small children may be best to wait for it to come out on disk, streaming or TV.

    • 5 out of 5 found this review helpful.
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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Movie Reviews + Ratings

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therealtzini I guess Martin did ten weeks' of filming for The Hobbit while Benedict was in New York for two days... *rolls eyes*

21 hours ago.

ManImGenius The Hobbit was filthy

22 hours ago.

geriatricus I hear that Tolkien started out working pretty hard on The Hobbit, but by the end he was dragon.

22 hours ago.

roche_carla What ive done since being home from school: Crashed on sofa in a pile of blankets and watched The Hobbit xD #finally seen them all! #amazing

22 hours ago.

Tom_Hyner Still can not believe how bad the hobbit was

22 hours ago.

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