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The story takes place before the events that unfold in The Lord of the Rings.  Things start to unfold in flashback style through the storytelling of a much older Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm), reflecting upon his earlier adventures as he reminiscences with Frodo.

As the perilous journey continues, they face great danger against Trolls, Orcs, Goblins, and other obstacles on their way to Erebor. What no one expects is that Bilbo will accidentally stumble upon a small golden ring, and that there would be a chance encounter between Bilbo and a creature named Gollum. The rest of the history of Middle Earth waits from here.

There was so much anticipation for this film that it is nearly unparalleled in the history of film. It sounds like an exaggeration to state that there was that much hope and anticipation surrounding this film, but the fan-base surrounding this production is unlike anything else out there. The fan base is so dedicated and enthralled in the works of Tolkien and in director Jackson's vision for bringing these stories to life. There is a lot of dedication from the fans and from those who are involved with making the films happen.

It's clear that some audience members were disappointed in this film. Not everyone walked away with the results a happy part of the audience. Some fans expected this film to play out like a new journey into the Lord of the Rings. This film works in perfect unison with those films but unlike those stories it focuses on some of the more playful and comedic elements found in the original novel. I wouldn't call The Hobbit a book that had the same purpose for Tolkien's readers as he surely envisioned as a writer himself. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings saga was much darker, epic, sprawling, and ambitious. Peter Jackson has a few interesting cards up his sleeve nonetheless.

The industry standard of 24fps won't disappear anytime soon (especially considering the higher costs associated with the technology of 48fps cameras) but at least it seems Jackson wasn't all alone in wanting to advance the filmmaking game as James Cameron has already announced plans to film his next motion-picture with the same 48fps frame-rate. This is really quite the accomplishment.

There are a few minor drawbacks to the film, though. The special effects could have been better. Some of the effects are immersive and beautiful to behold (such as the environmental shots) while other moment, such as when the Hobgoblin confrontation takes place, and when the onslaught of Orcs attack, it all seem somewhat simplified compared to the more hands-on approach with Jackson's Lord of the Rings efforts, with body-paint designs for Orcs and additional characterizations.

Almost everyone involved with The Lord of the Rings films creation in prominent roles came back to work with Peter Jackson in making The Hobbit films. This is perhaps one of the most notable elements of the entire production. Howard Shore has crafted another score that is just essential to the backbone of the film. Although it is highly enjoyable it is also a bit repetitive compared to earlier outings, with the greatest accomplishment in this entire outing being the stellar Misty Mountains song. Director of photography Andrew Lesnie is also back to being brilliant as the official photographer of Middle Earth and New Zealand. He's a brilliant and underused cinematographer but it's clear a lot of his passion resides with collaborating with Jackson.

While Jackson also keeps things interesting for the adults in the audience (there's plenty of good old fashioned action in the film that adults won't feel left out) he clearly seems to keep in mind that the story needed to be a more jubilant one and the results are the funniest and most simply enjoyable film in the series to date. It's the kind of film you could simply put on and get lost within for a few joyful hours. The whole family can share in enjoying this adventure story.

Based on the results of the first film, following my enjoyment of this energetic and lively work, I'd say he made a good choice to make it a three part adventure. It's remarkable to be able to return to middle earth. It's like visiting old friends again, and if everything coming ahead for Jackson's new trilogy is as good - if not greater - than what we found here, I'd say this is the greatest time I've ever had returning to a series with any prequel outing. For some that might sound like I'm giving only slight praise, but I mean it as the highest praise of the filmmaking imaginable.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is only unexpected in the sense that it's unexpectedly in existence at all following several years of talk and that it didn't disappoint most audiences the way many people seemed to expect for it to. Jackson did not seem keen on the idea of returning to Middle Earth as the director at the helm of The Hobbit for several years, and it was actually a disheartening bit of news to me (to small degree) when learning that Guillermo del Toro was going to direct initially, even if only because this is clearly Jackson's own visionary world to tinker around with some more.

Some viewers might consider it nothing more than a cash-grab that the film turned into two films and then turned into three films. I know there have been a lot of people decrying the decision. Well, all I can say is that I don't think it had anything to do with money for Jackson. This is something that was done out of his passion for filmmaking and the stories of Tolkien. He's making a trilogy again because of his love for the storytelling, the characters, and for his audience. Jackson's akin to a kid playing with all his toys when he makes a movie, and absolutely nothing about this bothers me because I love his sheer ambition and joy in filmmaking.

I'll tag along for whatever the unexpected journey is that he's planned for us.

The Blu-ray:

Video:

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded 2.35:1 transfer retaining the original theatrical aspect ratio presentation. This is a lush encode that should manage to please any fan of the film.

The cinematography by Andrew Lesnie looks remarkable from beginning to end and with an array of colors that help to make this a beautiful visual feast throughout. The depth of it all is astonishing and the clarity is just as remarkable. There are no sign to be found of murky and distracting DNR, edge enhancement, and other ailments that could have affected the transfer. This is a beautifully pleasant transfer that doesn't disappoint.

Audio:

The 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio is an equal match for perfection in the presentation department. The clarity of the audio is so immense. The dialogue is clear and easy to understand and there's plenty of inventive sound effects which add an extra element of intrigue to the sound design and mix. Howard Shore's music sounds splendid on this release: the orchestration is something that sounds as good as one could hope with a lossless encoding.  

Subtitles are presented in English SDH (for the deaf and hard of hearing), Spanish, French, and Portuguese.

Additional Screenshots:

Click on an image to view the Blu-ray screenshot with 1080p resolution

Extras:

There aren't as many supplements on this release as fans were probably hoping to see included. It's obvious that we'll be seeing more supplements included on an extended edition release. It was the same way with the other Lord of the Rings films and their home-media releases. The bulk of content included here was also previously made available online. The upside is that everything is presented in 1080p High Definition and that it's included on a separate disc (providing greater breathing room for both the feature film presentation and for the solid supplements included).

One interesting supplement (can I call it that?) is that early purchasers receive an access-code providing an exclusive sneak peak of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, which will be presented by Peter Jackson on March 24^th, 2013 at 3 P.M. Eastern Standard Time & Noon Pacific Standard Time. I don't know about you, but I'll be tuning in for the preview. This certainly is something exciting for fans.

New Zealand: Home of Middle-Earth (7 min.) is a brief tour and/or commercial (kidding!) for the beautiful locale known as New Zealand, where The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was filmed.

The main area of the supplemental section is devoted to video blogs previously released online. These featurettes focus on a variety of aspects: the beginning of production, location searching, early filming, work done for the 3D presentation, studio touring, photography, post-production, the comic-con visit, and the world premiere.

All told, there's over two hours of worthwhile and entertaining supplements included in this section. The filming was kept closely under-wraps of course, so you don't see much in that regard because of the nature of pre-release extras. It doesn't make them less fascinating or entertaining and informative. I'm glad that these were all included on this release. I really enjoyed seeing how enthusiastic Jackson was to return to Middle Earth. He was quite an entertaining person to behold on these featurettes.

Lastly, some trailers have also been included for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and several tie-in Hobbit games.

Final Thoughts:

Peter Jackson's return to Middle Earth was worth the wait. This is a lovingly made film with an amazing amount of adventure, action, comedy, and whimsy: enough to maybe fill three films! I'm only jokingly referring to the decision to split The Hobbit into three parts, of course. This adventure is one that I'm not keen on seeing end. I will miss it so much when it is over. It's been far too long since our last visit to Middle Earth happened before The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey arrived and for my money this is up there amongst the best fantasy films ever made.

Potential buyers should be forewarned that an Extended Edition awaits release in the future. Reportedly twenty or so minutes will be finished in post-production and added back into it. While that might be enough to stop some potential purchasers it won't stop me from enjoying a great adventure on Blu-ray in the meantime. I enjoy having both releases of these films anyway.

From a technical perspective, the Blu-ray PQ/AQ is superb. This is a demo-worthy disc. Supplements are a bit light on this release (even if still highly enjoyable) but there will undoubtedly be more included upon the release of the extended edition.

Highly Recommended.

Neil Lumbard is a lifelong fan of cinema. He aspires to make movies and has written two screenplays on spec. He loves writing, and currently does in Texas.