The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

The very thin plotline, taken from Tolkien’s three-hundred page novel, opens up with Frodo (Wood) and an older version of Bilbo Baggins (Holm) talking about an  autobiographical story that Bilbo has been secretly working on; a story that ultimately takes us back sixty years to its very beginning.

Young Bilbo Baggins (Freeman), a hobbit who enjoys the comfort of the Shire, doesn’t do much socialising.  His pipe-smoking alone- time is very precious and he doesn’t appreciate or welcome company.  So when he receives a visit from Gandalf (McKellen) – who insists on enlisting Bilbo on an expedition to the Lonely Mountain along with a dozen of other dwarfs – Bilbo is not pleased and initially hesitates towards the invitation. The dwarfs’ plan is to reach the mountain and try to reclaim the Kingdom of Erebor; the land which was taken from them years before by the evil dragon Smaug. Despite Bilbo’s many excuses of why he is not cut out for the voyage, Gandalf insists and eventually convinces him to join. 

Of course, the trip to Lonely Mountain is not easy.  The group encounters all types of creatures along the way; including weird looking Trolls, greasy Goblins and a pack of stern-faced Orcs. They eventually run into a few familiar faces from the ‘past’; Elf King Elrond (Weaving), his ghostly telepathic Queen Galadriel (Blanchett) and even Wizard Suruman (Lee) makes an appearance. Furthermore, Gollum (Serkis) also makes a comeback and ends up sharing quite a bit of screen time with Bilbo in the second half of the film.

The pitfalls are endless. The boisterous dwarfs , who burst into not just one song, but two at the beginning of the film, bring an unintentional infantile element.  The group entangle themselves in a few, rather slow-moving battles that always result in a last minute save, usually by Gandalf. However, Gollum, who doesn’t appear until the second half of the story, is the only invigorating factor of the entire story.