We finally got our act together and saw The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey.  It was better than I was expecting.

I’m not going to try and do an in-depth analysis of the movie.  There are other people who are much more qualified than I am for that.  I’ve only read the book twice, most recently prior to the release of the first LOTR movie.  Some of the details are a little blurry, to say the least.

On the whole, the movie matched the book quite well, at least to the best of my memory.  There were a few details I thought were different.  I know Jackson is embellishing the story a little, drawing on sources in Tolkien’s writings other than the novel itself.  Those scenes were fairly obvious.

The cinematography was great.  Every time I see one of these movies, I want to move to New Zealand. 

One thing I did find interesting.  With all the running the party did, I was impressed that no one ever seemed out of breath, especially since it was in the mountains. 

On the whole I was impressed.  This is one I’ll be getting on DVD.