Stephen Shupe: Visuals upstage drama in 'The Hobbit - An Unexpected Tale'

Near the beginning of “The Fellowship of the Ring”, the wizard Gandalf tells young Frodo Baggins, “If you're referring to the incident with the dragon, I was barely involved. All I did was give your uncle a little nudge out of the door.”

“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Tale” concerns the incident with the dragon, though not the entire incident. Running nearly three hours, this is the first of a three-part series. (“The Desolation of Smaug” will be released next year, followed by the “There and Back Again” in 2014.) It gets off to a slow start, which had me worried Jackson had made the wrong move by taking so much screen time to tell this tale about one of the charming little folks with the hairy feet. It's no instant classic like Jackson's “Lord of the Rings” movies, but the second half of “An Unexpected Journey” is absolutely wonderful. It's as if Jackson took awhile before he found his furry footing.

Based on J.R.R. Tolkien's much-loved 1937 novel, “The Hobbit” is set 60 years before the events in “The Lord of the Rings”. The prelude is about Frodo's uncle, Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), who is recruited by Gandalf (Ian McKellan) to join in an adventure with 13 dwarfs. After much protest, Bilbo agrees to make the long journey from the Shire to the Lonely Mountain, where Smaug, a fearsome dragon, has lived since driving the dwarfs from their kingdom.

While watching Jackson's adaptation of “The Lovely Bones”, I felt he had cut out all my favorite parts of the book. The first half of “An Unexpected Journey” has the opposite problem, as the director spends way too much time on scenes like the dwarfs sitting down to dinner and Bilbo outwitting three hungry trolls.

What I like about the first half is that it stays true to the family-friendly nature of Tolkien's book. This is especially true of scenes with Radagast the Brown (Sylvester McCoy), a forest-dwelling wizard who communicates with birds and wild animals and rides a sleigh pulled by rabbits. These cooing critters wouldn't look out of place in a Disney animated feature. In addition to making “An Unexpected Journey” more like a kids movie, Radagast's scenes promote a love of nature and protection of the environment, which was a strong theme of “The Lord of the Rings” movies, particularly the march of the Ents near the end of the “The Two Towers”.

The wizard who went to war against the Ents points to another problem in “An Unexpected Journey”: a lack of formidable foes. “The Fellowship of the Ring” and “The Two Towers” had one of the great fantasy villains, Saruman the White (Christopher Lee). Smaug isn't really a factor in this part of the story, save for a spectacular prologue that shows the destruction of the town of Dale, and even there he never appears onscreen. Azog, an Orc who killed the king of the dwarfs, is a poor substitute for the dragon.

Saruman makes a welcome reappearance when the party gets to Rivendell, but I found myself concentrating less on his dialogue and more on the scenery. Like “The Lord of the Rings”, “An Unexpected Journey” is a jaw-dropping technical achievement. The difference is that this is the first time I've felt like the visuals upstaged the drama.

After Bilbo and the dwarfs leave Rivendell and head for the Misty Mountains, Jackson pulls out all the stops and the film never lets up, all the way through to its unforgettable final shot. A scene with two stone giants hurling rocks at each other is a triumph of imagination and effects work. Barry Humphries (Dame Edna herself) is hilarious as the voice of the Great Goblin. Greatest of all is Andy Serkis, returning as the wretched, “precious”-loving Gollum. The “riddles in the dark” scene between Bilbo and Gollum is my favorite in the book, and it's my favorite in the movie as well. Serkis is a genius at showing us the good side and the bad side of Gollum's personality. These two sides come together when he cheerfully announces his plan to eat Bilbo if Gollum wins the game of riddles. It's a moment that will have audiences laughing with delight. I hope the rest of the trilogy lives up to it.

“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” will be playing in 3D through January 3 at the Augusta Historic Threatre, 523 State Street. Tickets are $8. DeAnn Triboulet, theatre director, said souvenir 3D glasses will be provided. Patrons may take the glasses home while supplies last.

Stephen is an AHS graduate who studied film and journalism in college. He's watched “The Lord of the Rings” movies about 10 times each. He lives in Wichita.