The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
a welcome return to JRR tolkien’s mystical world ITV 8.00pm - 11.15pm
Nine years after bringing his epic
Lord of the Rings trilogy to a close, Peter Jackson returns to Middleearth to spin Tolkien’s The Hobbit into a three-part adventure. This first instalment finds hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) drafted by the wizard Gandalf (Ian Mckellen) into a company of dwarves seeking to reclaim their lost kingdom. It takes the best part of an hour to get beyond Bilbo’s front door, but things improve when the journey gets underway, pitching Bilbo into encounters with trolls, goblins, orcs and, scariest of all, the treacherous Gollum. Freeman is perfectly cast as everyman Bilbo, Mckellen once more gives Gandalf a wry, whimsical twinkle and Andy Serkis performs motion-capture marvels as Gollum. Dir: Peter Jackson 2012, 12, 195min