Trailer: The Hobbit

The month of December has been a veritable nerd event calendar, filled to the brim with trailers for next year’s biggest cult magnets (The Dark Knight Rises, Cabin in the Woods, and The Wrath of the Titans). Today is no exception, with the arrival of the first trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first half of the two-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien prequel to The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

So what do we get with this trailer?

Well, we’re returned to the lovingly crafted world that Peter Jackson established with his prior trio of films. Now there will be some that bark about changes to narrative content, but Jackson’s vision of Middle Earth is the vision that most resonates with fans of the series and the sets are perfectly crafted with costuming and lighting that appears to be as beautifully done as we expected.

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were always very similar, stucturewise – A Baggins sets out from the shire in a large company, pays a visit to Elrond, travels dark and dire roads to accomplish a noble goal. But Bilbo’s adventure has never enjoyed the popularity that Frodo’s much more epic endeavor has, and this is surely something the studios know. So if the hype of the trilogy or, you know, love of the book was not enough to draw you in, it seems as if the studio is really trying to play up how much this is like that other movie you liked so much. Galadriel, clearly we need more shots of Galadriel. But, despite news of Frodo and Legolas making appearances in the film as well, this fan is hoping that its a lot of trailer mojo, and that the end product will be what the book deserves.

The Hobbit: Unexpected Journey hits theaters December 14, 2012.

Written by Kaitlin Pedri (@misssuperfluous)

Kaitlin wields a red pen like a katana and gets her kicks making fun of poorly written fanfiction. She forsook a life of editing, only to be drawn back in by the seductive allure of the misplaced modifier. The owner of an encyclopedic mind and a fangirl's heart, she bawls… More »