Film review: Jackson's 'Hobbit' suffers from story bloat; 48-frame clarity dazzles, distracts

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This film image released by Warner Bros. shows Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins in a scene from the fantasy adventure "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey." (AP Photo/Warner Bros., James Fisher)
This film released by Warner Bros., shows, from left, Dean O'Gorman as Fili, Aidan Turner as Kili, Mark Hadlow as Dori, Jed Brophy as Nori and William Kircher as Bifur in a scene from the fantasy adventure "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey." (AP Photo/Warner Bros.)

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December 4, 2012

Film review: Jackson's 'Hobbit' suffers from story bloat; 48-frame clarity dazzles, distracts

Anonymous Associated Press Tue Dec 04, 2012, 07:19 PM EST

— Judging part one of Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" prelude "The Hobbit" is a bit like reviewing a film after seeing only the first act.

Yet here goes: "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" is stuffed with Hollywood's latest technology — 3-D, high-speed projection and Dolby's Atmos surround sound system. The result is some eye candy that truly dazzles and some that utterly distracts, at least in its test-run of 48 frames a second, double the projection rate that has been standard since silent-film days.

It's also overstuffed with, well, stuff. Prologues and sidestepping backstory. Long, boring councils among dwarves, wizards and elves. A shallow blood feud extrapolated from sketchy appendices to J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" to give the film a bad guy.

Remember the interminable false endings of "The Return of the King," the Academy Award-winning finale of Jackson's "Lord of the Rings"? "An Unexpected Journey" has a similar bloat throughout its nearly three hours, in which Tolkien's brisk story of intrepid little hobbit Bilbo Baggins is drawn out and diluted by dispensable trimmings better left for DVD extras.

Two more parts are coming, so we won't know how the whole story comes together until the finale arrives in summer 2014. Part one's embellishments may pay off nicely, but right now, "An Unexpected Journey" looks like the start of an unnecessary trilogy better told in one film.

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Film review: Jackson's 'Hobbit' suffers from story bloat; 48-frame clarity dazzles, distracts

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