With this prequel trilogy of movies set 60 years before the Lord of The Rings trilogy, THIS movie tells the story tells the tale of Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), who is convinced by the wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) to accompany thirteen Dwarves, led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), on a quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from the dragon Smaug, all the while avoiding capture by a fierce leader of an army of Orcs named Azog.

 

First off, the cast of this movie is amazing. Most of the actors who played their original character in the LOTR trilogy are back: Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins(him only as a cameo though,), Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Christopher Lee as Saruman, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Lee Pace as Thrandieul, Hugo Weaving as Elrond, Andy Serkis as Gollum. It adds to the nostalgia factor for the old fans, and helps introduce us to future characters yet to come.

 

Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, is a very well-casted role.He does a great job playing a character thrust into a journey he feels unready for. And, his acting is very good as well. Ian McKellen brings his usual legendaryness as Gandalf, portraying a wise, old wizard with very helpful traits, and a very tough mind. He is very able to help in trouble whenever needed, and he is very smart. But, my personal favorite character in this movie is Thorin. Richard Armitage does an excellent job playing Thorin, with very powerful acting abilities, and really gets into his role. Plus, his character is so cool. His team of dwarves are pretty cool too, but there are too many of them on the team to describe each one. But, bottom line, they all have distinct characteristics, and are each VERY cool. Also, oneo f Gandalf's wizard friends, a forest wizard named Radagast. He is an interesting character with a kind of spastic personality, but it still a cool, and peaceful character, with cool abilities.

The movie's secondary villains, Azog(Manu Bennett,), and Bolg (John Tui,), leader and second in command of the Orc army, who are pursuing to stop and kill Bilbo and his friends, are well, ok villains. Smaug is the real villain of this prequel trilogy. These 2 guys on the other hand, are more secondary villains.

 

The effects for this movie ARE AMAZING! All the beautiful colors stand out, mostly due to Peter Jackson converting the film to 48 FPS(frames per second,), and makes the film look extra HD. Some people find this annoying, but I think it works, and looks beautiful. A job well done! 

 

The music by Howard Shore is spectacular! he captures the feel of a fantasy movie, with grand, and epic adventures to help set the tone. Also, the song sung by Richard Armitage and the Dwarf cast, called "Misty Mountain," which was also in the trailer, is a really catchy, and epic song.

 

The directing by Peter Jackson (The Hobbit: Part IIL The Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit: Part III: The Battle of The Five Armies, The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring, The Lord of The Rings II: The Two Towers, The Lord of The Rings III: The Return of The King, King Kong (2005 Remake,),), is, well, ok. The effects look beautiful and polished, indeed. The colors for this movie stand out as well and work greatly. The acting is good as well. But, by GOD, the pacing is SO sloww, with a rushed plot, little to no action, and just needed more to drive its suspense and intensity factor. Basically, I see this movie as a perfect comparison to Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999,), because of many reasons. George Lucas hadn't directed a Star Wars movie in 22 years. Peter Jackson hadn't directed a Lord of The Rings movie for 8 years. George Lucas, at the time Episode I was being made, had just got a hold of ILM's new CGI effects. Jackson, though already being aquainted with CGI for years, was just getting used to doing another Middle Earth movie, and getting a hang of the new 48 FPS frame rate. And, both movies had little to no action, but ok effects, an interesting story to start with, but not enough time in 1 movie to get used to all the new characters we are being shown to. I will say this though ,the movie does definitely build up next movie quite well, and that pattern continues on for the rest of this series. Luckily, that is where both these franchise's next 2 prequels fall in. . Anyway, as for the first movie in The Hobbit prequel trilogy, I'm giving it a 7.5 out of 10.