Jackson Free Press

What makes Peter Jackson’s films different from the work of other directors is an extraordinary combination of visual richness and visual freedom. Jackson’s movies feature sweeping panoramas of breathtaking battles, twisted creatures and mysterious wooded lands. But like an adrenaline junkie searching for a new high, Jackson keeps escalating his visual exploits. 

The director approaches his latest film, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” with an obsession for nitty-gritty details. Jackson’s choice to shoot the picture at 48 frames per second, rather than at the film standard of 24 frames per second, makes his fixation even more evident. The effect is disorienting; it screams of animation on steroids, rather than a live action film. 

For those who patiently sit through the nearly three-hour film—which is only the first of a trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s rather short fantasy novel “The Hobbit”—Bilbo Baggins’ great adventure bloats into a monstrous bore.

“It began long ago,” writes Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) in a journal for his dearest kin Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood). (Emphasis here is on “long,” a subtle harbinger of what is to come). The little hobbit of noble lineage frames his once-in-a-lifetime quest into its epic context.

Decades before Bilbo puts pen to paper, a fire-breathing, gold-thieving, reptilian dragon drives the swarthy, but courageous dwarves out of their mountain kingdom. Thorin (Richard Armitage), the last member of the royal line, swears to reclaim the homeland. Gandalf (Ian McKellen), friend to dwarves, hobbits and elves, knocks on Bilbo’s little door.

“I’m looking for someone to share an adventure,” Gandalf says. Bilbo declines.

A wizard cannot be denied, however; that evening, thirteen dwarves and Gandalf interrupt Bilbo’s evening supper. They break bread, sing songs of Middle-earth and discuss doilies and china. When the merry troop abandons his home early the next morning, Bilbo reconsiders. 

“I’m going on an adventure,” Bilbo shouts to his neighbors in the Shire.

This ordinary little hobbit with large hairy feet runs from home into the frying pan of the unknown. He finds himself with a tiny sword, no bigger than a letter opener, to combat ugly trolls, vile orcs and nasty goblins. Somewhere in one of the mountains, he meets the blue-eyed Gollum (Andy Serkis) and his “precious” ring. 

One of the many issues presented in this film is the existential battle of art and commerce. This movie, like so many, is shaped by calculations about what will sell to its fan base. You can imagine Jackson and studio executives debating the ways in which “The Hobbit” can be shaped and manipulated into another billion-dollar “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

But, while “Lord of the Rings” was a trilogy based on three separate books, “The Hobbit” is a trilogy based on one.

Jacksonian Jeffrey Hess considers himself a stalwart Tolkien fan. When asked about a trilogy based on “The Hobbit,” he candidly answered, “It’s an insult to my freedom that they treat me like such a commodity.”

Change out Aragorn and his band with dwarves, keep the hobbits and trek the wilds of New Zealand, and “The Hobbit” replicates part of “Lord of the Rings” experience. But something important is missing. It’s not pseudo psychology; this movie has that in shovelfuls. Gandalf gets all the best one-liners: “All good stories deserve embellishments,” “Courage is not killing, but knowing when to spare life” and “The small things keep the bad things at bay.”

The film doesn’t lack imagination. Jackson and his talented team leave no detail undone. Indeed, once Bilbo starts his adventure, the film takes on a single, high-pitch scale bordering on hysteria.

The truth be told, I simply didn’t care about what happened. The visual overload and Jackson’s treatment of everything as important swamped out any emotional connection I had with the material. Although this film is splendidly beautiful, well-acted and, at times, entertaining (the high point is Serkis’ performance), “The Hobbit” is a sluggish journey that goes into oblivion. I kept wondering, “Are we there, yet?”

I may never get there, because I can’t imagine sitting through the next two Hobbit pictures in the franchise: “The Desolation of Smaug” and “There and Back Again.” It’s too much work for a flight of fantasy. Nothing was left to my imagination.