Movie #72- "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" (2012)

Peter Jackson knows a thing or two about creating an epic.  He can produce a movie of this magnitude in his sleep.  And while it's easy to get caught up in the spectacle of his work, something seems to be lacking with "The Hobbit".
I cannot consider myself a fan of Tolkien since I've never read any of his writings (I did give "The Hobbit" a try, although I don't remember why I didn't finish).  Yet without the background, I still enjoyed the work Jackson did with the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.  For me, the final movie serves as a crowning achievement. However, whether it's my advancing age or the massive scale of the project, I had an issue of remembering what happened from film to film.  I went to each installment hoping something would jog my memory as to the events of the previous film.
Same problem with "The Hobbit".  After viewing it, I came to the conclusion that I might be able to name three dwarfs, four if I'm lucky.  Maybe it's because I'm not immersed into the world of Tolkien, but it seemed as though most of the dwarfs were indistinguishable from each other (character traits, not looks).  And while Saturday Night Live did a funny sketch about the amount of walking in the film, there is a lot of running from one fight scene to the next.
The highlight of "The Hobbit" is the battle of riddles between Bilbo Baggins and Gollum, which takes place toward the end.  I still look forward to the next chapter since the first film of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy was my least favorite.  That's assuming I can recall anything from "The Hobbit".

Rating: 7/10
Movies I've previously seen: 6
First time viewings: 66