Lorna Irvine thinks the first part of The Hobbit trilogy is 'a mess, but a pretty mess.'
Starting with a sumptuous blue and gold palette, the latest installment of Peter Jackson's Lord of The Rings franchise sets out its stylistic stall early- this is Technicolor, all-singing, all-dancing 24 carat Christmas fa(y)re...no, really.
Narrated in flashback by Ian Holm as the elder Bilbo Baggins, who brings a quiet dignity to the film, it charts his journey from sweet, green as the hills Hobbit to recalcitrant warrior- Martin Freeman is well cast as the younger version of this unassuming hero, full of wide-eyed charm and seemingly much younger than his late thirties. Can the sensitive soul carry off a burglary for the dwarves and help them reclaim their land - even at the risk of certain death?
There is a lot to admire here- indeed, the cast are frequently very good- hardly surprising, given the cream of British and Irish acting talent is present, including Ken Stott, Aidan Turner and Sylvester McCoy- even the usually annoying James Nesbitt acquits himself well. Only Cate Blanchett disappoints, wafting prettily through an underwritten role she is redolent of a cosmetics commercial, almost simpering, "The Lady of Lorien- because I'm worth it''.
Yet, the whole is perfunctory at best- a very middling Middle Earth. Certain scenes are predictably drawn-out, singing sequences grate (including a dirge which sounds not unlike The Mighty Boosh's Isolation) and (the Cyril Smith lookalike) King Of the Trolls battles feel like filler.
Only the stone giants, Gollum's riddle-off with Baggins and an in-joke involving trolls which plays like that scene in Jackson's early cult hit Bad Taste ( I'll skip the gross details, but it involves a plate of sick) provide any real elements of surprise. It all looks gorgeous of course, with raindrops, butterflies and birds popping out of the screen as symbols of hope and innocence amid incredible vertiginous landscapes, but the whole effect is like drunken friends with amnesia telling amusing anecdotes- fun at first, but eventually you feel like interjecting and putting them to bed early. A mess, but a pretty mess.
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