Baggy, never-ending goings on, going on in Bag End, give way finally to a surprisingly spritely adventure for such a behemoth of a movie. The tone (teetering between light kiddlesome adventure and LOTR darkness) takes a while to find its feet; the excellent cast however, hit the ground running. It's pleasing to see just how much care Jackson and team have put into giving the dwarves a rounded and meaty set of personalities, there's nary a hint of Time Bandits silliness that could have derailed a less respectful adaptation (something that Gimli's overtly comedic turn in Return Of The King pointed worryingly to).
The Hobbit doesn't yet engage with the same depth of emotion that made the Fellowship such an astounding achievement from the off. With the shoehorning in of much peripheral material from the Tolkien archives there may be issues with getting the right balance of looming threat and moral imperative that LOTR had running through its heart; yet these are but early days, and it will undoubtedly take the telling of the entire saga to conclude if this trilogy can measure up to the extraordinary achievements of its predecessor.
I was deeply sceptical of the move to three lengthy films being wrought from such a slim source, and while I remain to be wholly convinced, this first episode has much to enjoy; and once the languorous opening act was dispensed with, felt far tighter and more event-filled than the running time would suggest.
A gentle tale, lovingly told, and with the grimmer and bad-assier stuff still to come, there is hope of greatness yet.
Rating: 4/5
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