Where to begin?

After much deliberation about whether to begin chronologically by Tolkien or Jackson I decided to go with Tolkien. That means I will start by reviewing The Hobbit trilogy before The Lord of the Rings.

When news broke that The Hobbit would actually become a movie I was thrilled. I had read through Middle-earth chronologically and was enamored with the ideas of what could be included in these movies. I also had great faith in Peter Jackson as I felt, by and large, he handled LOTR very well in his film adaptations. I was in the camp of great excitement when it was announced the Hobbit would be three films--fully convinced there was enough material to justify a third film.

Of course the LOTR movies introduced me to Tolkien and I had not read as much of the Professor's work when the movies came out - so perhaps I was a bit skewed in my perspective. I was convinced that any Tolkien on screen was better than no Tolkien on screen. Of course something happened between the two Peter Jackson trilogies that I did not expect: I fell in love with Tolkien's writings.

And while I am a firm believer that books must be adapted in order to be filmed and films will never include the detail a book holds I found myself, at least initially, viewing the Hobbit with a much more critical eye. Whereas with the LOTR the adaptations felt true to the spirit of the Tolkien I could not say the same for the Hobbit. However, I believe that Peter Jackson and his amazing team dove head first into the project (with its many complications) and really swung for the fences. And I give tremendous credit to that.

Now being a little removed (they came out 2012-2014) and having viewed all of the extended editions (I would highly recommend to anyone) I feel less critical. There are still moments I could do with out but the extended editions really filled in some gaps.

So let's begin with An Unexpected Journey...