“The Hobbit: An Unexpected
Journey” comes across as an extended piece of LOTR (Peter Jackson version) fan
fiction. The characters are essentially the same, so are the situations. Both
the good, the bad and the ugly from the original LOTR films has been included:
the heroism of warriors, the loyalty of Hobbits, the supernatural wizards, the
evil orcs and the comic relief which often borders the ridiculous (think dwarfs
in Bilbo's cabin or Radagast's rabbits from Rhosgobel). The combination of all
these elements strikes me as somewhat weird! The plot is strikingly similar to
the first LOTR film, with the main characters forming a brotherhood, visiting
Rivendell, and being chased by evil creatures both above and below ground.
Although I'm finally starting to like the LOTR concept, I'm honestly not sure
what to do with this particular little detour through Middle Earth, so I
tentatively give it three stars. Funny detail: when “The Hobbit” was recently
shown on Swedish TV, the translation was based on Åke Ohlmarks' ditto, which
both J R R Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien and their loyal brotherhood of
fanatical Swedish fans loved to hate. Ha ha ha, it seems “The Necromancer” has
returned…
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