The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

We're off to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey today.

We're going to see the 3D version, which either means forking out £1 each to buy a pair of glasses, or digging around to see if we can find the glasses we bought the last time we saw a 3D film at the cinema.

This is the first of 3 movies made from the book. Why did Peter Jackson make such a small book into 3 movies. He made The Lord of the Rings into 3 movies - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, but these corresponded to the 3 books that made up the story.

But he's split The Hobbit, a fairly small book, into 3. Why?

One explanation is that there was too much to tell in only 1 or even 2 films; that making less than 3 films would compromise the story.

My personal view is that it allows him to rake in even more money from increased attendances and through merchandising over the next three years.

I don't blame him. I'm sure he's struggling financially like the rest of us. ;-)

What I hate though is being left hanging at the end of the movie, and having to wait a year for the next instalment  only to be left hanging at the end of that one too.

Anyway, let's see what the movie holds. Maybe after seeing it I'll be less cynical, or won't care so much.

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Despite my earlier misgivings about the story being split into 3 in order to screw more money out of the gullible, paying public, I have to admit that the first film was fantastic.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was full of action for most of its 169 minutes, and I was not left with the feeling that they'd padded it with unnecessary scenes. I can't wait until the next one comes out.