The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

There has almost certainly never been an adaptation of a novel more studiously, scrupulously and strenuously faithful as Peter Jackson's film of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Spending nearly three hours of screen time to visually represent every comma, period and semicolon in the first six chapters of the perennially popular 19-chapter book, Jackson and his colleagues have created a purist's delight, something the millions of die-hard fans of his Lord of the Rings trilogy will gorge upon. In pure movie terms, however, it's a bit of a slog, with an inordinate amount of exposition and lack of strong forward movement. Still, based on its maker, source and gigantic promotional campaign, this first section to the long-awaited prequel to Rings no doubt will mine equivalent amounts of box-office gold, as will its follow-ups.