by Young Se Choi ’18, Staff Writer

If you’re the kind of person who likes talking trees, scary dragons, goblins, or any kind of fantasy creatures, The Hobbit is the best movie for you.  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is a thrilling, epic fantasy adventure that is a prequel to the original Lord of the Rings series.  This movie is based off the book, The Hobbit, by J.R.R Tolkien.  Gandalf, (Ian Mckellen) is a wizard who tricks the protagonist, Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) into hosting a party for his fellow dwarves, or hobbits.  In their meeting, they sing about reclaiming the Lonely Mountain from the dragon, Smaug.  When the music ends, Gandalf unravels a map showing a secret door into the mountain and proposes that Bilbo will be their leader.  Bilbo Baggins and the band of dwarves embark on an unexpected journey to the Lonely Mountain.

This movie has received positive reviews from several students.  William Mainente, a 7^th grader, says, “It is a great action-packed movie, with an excellent story line.  This is a MUST-SEE.”  Eva Lebovitz, also a 7^th grader, gave a very enthusiastic opinion on the movie, saying, “Really interesting movie, but a bit different from the book.  Martin Freeman and Richard Armitage did great jobs acting in this movie!  Fans will definitely enjoy this movie!”

Teachers of the middle school highly rated this movie as well.  Mrs. Palmer, a 7^th grader science teacher at Newark Academy, calls it, “A great movie, beautifully filmed, mostly stays true to the book, and a spectacular film to watch.  A must see for Lord of the Rings fans!”  It sounds to me, that this is a very popular movie that kids at all ages can enjoy.