The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

It took forever for things to get going -- the first hour or so had a lot of exposition and silliness that either outright fell flat or was too muted. I was also surprised to note that the special effects (we saw it in 3-D) were seriously lacking -- I was pretty disappointed in the bendy-doll look and the overuse of swooping camera moves that often made it impossible to get a visual fix on anything.

It did, thankfully, pick up in the last couple of hours and I guess I'm on board to see the next one. The highlight was definitely the stone giant fight -- a stunning, exciting and too-short bit.

C+