The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

◄ The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

Metascore

Based on 40 critic reviews provided by

83	Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum I'm holding the filmmaker responsible for getting us all back again - to feelings of excitement and delight. Vital as they are, Gollum and Bilbo can only do so much to keep us enchanted. Is Jackson able to sustain the magic in two more installments? I peer into Tolkien's Misty Mountains and embrace the journey.
70	Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern An overlong adventure enlivened by wonders.
63	USA Today Claudia Puig While the production design is impeccable and the journey intermittently involving, The Hobbit is overlong and lacks the enchantment of the Lord of the Rings films.
63	Boston Globe Ty Burr The downside is that "The Hobbit" no longer looks like a movie at all. It looks like a video.
63	Rolling Stone Peter Travers What saves the day is the spidery, schizoid Gollum, again performed by the great Andy Serkis through the craft of motion capture.
50	Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan The result is a film that is solid and acceptable instead of soaring and exceptional, one unnecessarily hampered in its quest to reach the magical heights of the trilogy.
50	The New York Times A.O. Scott Tolkien's inventive, episodic tale of a modest homebody on a dangerous journey has been turned into an overscale and plodding spectacle.
50	Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea This is not about a reluctant hero drawing courage from some deep personal well. It's not about dread and danger. It's about visual effects.
38	Washington Post Ann Hornaday It's a bloated, shockingly tedious trudge that manages to look both overproduced and unforgivably cheesy.
25	San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle If you loved the earlier films, these are moments you will hold on to, but they're very few, and they're not enough.