Overview
In a hole in the ground, there lived a Hobbit...
Bilbo Baggins is an ordinary hobbit, very respectable, never doing anything unexpected. Then one day someone from his past arrives at his front doorstep, quite literally, and invites him on an adventure, which is unacceptable Bilbo says. Nasty uncomfortable things. Make you late for dinner. He thinks that's the end of the matter, until all of the sudden dwarves start showing up at his front doorstep and inviting themselves in, and before he knows it Bilbo has joined them on their quest to take back their ancient homeland, the shining mountain of Erebor.
Negative
This movie I actually thought was a little tamer than the Lord of the Rings movies. That's not to say it doesn't have its moments of terror though. No Nazgul's screeching and waving swords in the darkness, but the dwarves do get captured by flesh-eating trolls. Some of them are staked over a fire to cook (They don't actually get cooked though...). One of the trolls picks up a dwarf to bite off his head (He doesn't). One character ventures into an old fortress and is attacked by a ghostly warrior. The same character also once gets attacked by giant spiders that you don't ever actually see, which would be scary for younger viewers. It is discussed that a character that never actually appears can raise the dead. There is one battle scene where an orc gets his hand cut off and a little bit of black blood drips off it. Orcs and goblins get bloodlessly skewered, sliced, and impaled in combat scenes. Gollum kills a goblin by hitting it on the head with a rock and then sings about eating it. A dragon smashes and burns a city to the ground and we see a few people burning.
Positive
The movie has a strong message of loyalty. As Thorin said, "I would take each and every one of these Dwarves over an army from the Iron Hills. For when I called upon them, they answered. Loyalty. Honor. A willing heart... I can ask no more than that." The dwarves fight and look out for each other. Thorin is a good leader, he steps up for his group even when it means he will die twice (Because he ends up sword fighting himself out of it and doesn't end up dying because that would make a terrible movie!). It also talks about how the little things matter. Gandalf says, "Saruman thinks evil can only be stopped through great power, but I have found that it is the everyday acts of everyday people that keep evil at bay." Bilbo is the manifestation of this, he is the smallest of all the characters, uses what Balin calls a "letter opener" for a weapon, and hasn't ever been out of the Shire before this. Bilbo also shows mercy, sparing the life of the wretched Gollum (A theme that comes up over and over in J. R. R. Tolkien's stories and Peter Jackson's adaptions of them). Bilbo also decides to forego his comfortable life at home and go through uncomfortable and life-threatening situations to help others get home.
Conclusion
The Unexpected Journey is the first of the three movies Peter Jackson made out of one book. You can tell that the story is stretched as far as it can to get to the nine hours of film Jackson needed. It has other flaws too, some might not watch it because of the Necromancer and his dark power (Which represents evil in the movie). I thought that the character arcs could have used a little more defining, especially Bilbo's, which I didn't really understand until the end. The morals are strong, however, and the filming and CGI were amazing. Just looking at the sun-filled skies is an experience in its self. There were a lot more chances for humor, and the makers took every chance to do it. I enjoyed watching it, so I'll give it a 👍.
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