Critics found fault with the length of the first installment in "The Hobbit' trilogy.
This film image released by Warner Bros., shows Ian McKellen as Gandalf in a scene from the fantasy adventure "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey." (
The first installment in director Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit" trilogy arrives in theaters today. Critics appreciated the look of the film, but complained the story has been padded to justify a three-picture package.
Here is a sampling of reviews:
"The movie lacks majesty. Grand in parts, it is too often grandiose or grandiloquent, and the running time is indefensible. It’s like the three-hour first cut, assembled by editors, of even the most modest film before the director says, 'O.K., now let’s make a movie out of this.' This 'Hobbit' plays like a rough cut, with no deleted scenes left for DVD." – Richard Corliss, Time
"The action, set in Middle-earth 60 years before the 'Lord of the Rings,' is relatively straightforward in the screen adaptation ... An overlong adventure enlivened by wonders." – Joe Morgenster, Wall Street Journal
"Part One of director Peter Jackson's planned film trilogy of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit forces audiences to run an obstacle course before the fun kicks in." – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
"While Peter Jackson's prequel to 'The Lord of the Rings' delivers more of what made his earlier trilogy so compelling -- colorful characters on an epic quest amid stunning New Zealand scenery -- it doesn't offer nearly enough novelty to justify the three-film, nine-hour treatment, at least on the basis of this overlong first installment, dubbed 'An Unexpected Journey.' The primary advance here is technical, as Jackson shoots in high-frame-rate 3D, an innovation that improves motion at the expense of visual elegance." – Peter Debruge, Variety
"Nine years after the completion of his 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy, director Peter Jackson has returned, as if he never left, to the imaginary territory he clearly loves as much as his homeland New Zealand." – Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
"Mr. Jackson has embraced what might be called theme-park-ride cinema, the default style of commercially anxious, creatively impoverished 3-D moviemaking. The action sequences are exercises in empty, hectic kineticism, with very little sense of peril or surprise." – A.O. Scott, New York Times
"'The Hobbit' is overlong and lacks the enchantment of 'The Lord of the Rings films.
At times, the nearly three-hour movie feels as bloated as the dwarves' bellies after their gluttonous bash at Bilbo's place. – Claudia Puig, USA Today
"This 'Hobbit' is a fantasy-film cornucopia, with mythical creatures and grand battles woven into an old-fashioned adventure-narrative -- exactly what Jackson does best. – Rafer Guzman, Newsday
"'Sluggish' doesn't begin to do justice to the way Jackson has padded out his narrative." – Tom Charity, CNN
"Visually, the film really sets itself apart from the previous trilogy. Just as the storytelling is more lighthearted and brisk, so too is the imagery, filled with rich, bright colors and textures while settling into rhythms of wide shots to close-ups, sweeping back and forth, and lots of swooping in and around complex sets and scenery." – Mark Hughes, Forbes