“In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit on or eat: it was a hobbit-hole and that means comfort.”
With those words J.R.R Tolkien begins his epic masterpiece The Hobbit. In the 1950’s he wrote a sequel. You may have heard of it. It’s called The Lord of the Rings and is my personal favorite book of all time. In 2001 Peter Jackson adapted it into an epic trilogy. The last of which, The Return of the King won 11 Oscars. It ties the record for most Oscars eve with Titanic and Ben-Hur. Now Peter Jackson is directing a trilogy based off The Hobbit. With many of the original cast returning and several new members this is shaking up to be an epic trilogy.
Ian McKellen is returning as Gandalf. Christopher Lee is returning as Saruman. Orlando Bloom is returning as Legolas. Cate Blanchett is returning as Galadriel, Hugo Weaving is returning as Elrond. Elijah Wood is returning as Frodo, and Andy Serkis is returning as Gollum. Note that some of these are only cameos. Newcomers are Martin Freeman as Bilbo, Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield and Sylvester McCoy as Radaghast the Brown.
I’ll quickly run through the premise. Bilbo Baggins is a nice, peace-loving hobbit. One day a wizard called Gandalf the Grey arrives at his house and asks Bilbo to help 13 dwarves reclaim their gold that was taken by the dragon Smaug.
There are many aspects to be excited for. I am excited to see Andy Serkis be Gollum again after 9 years. I also can’t wait to see Sylvester McCoy’s performance. I also love to see the beautiful imagery of New Zealand, where the film was shot. I am also excited to see Matin Freeman as Bilbo. As soon as I heard Martin Freeman was Bilbo I was like “Yes! He is Bilbo Baggins!”
The great thing about this is that you don’t need to have read the books or seen the movies of Lord of the Rings to understand what is going on. I am really looking forward to the release next week and should have a review out shortly after.