DVD & Blu-ray review: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (12)

Peter Jackson DVD/Blu-ray (166mins)

JRR Tolkien's sweet, 320-page fantasy has presumably been turned into a monstrous three-part film in order to make as much moolah as possible.

This first slice of Hobbit takes an age to get going, as gentle Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) dithers over whether to go on an adventure with pipe-smoking Gandalf (Ian McKellen, who is still the best thing about these films) and 13 tiresome Dwarves, led by Richard Armitage's grumpy warrior, Thorin. It's in the last hour, when the action kicks in and Gollum (Andy Serkis, excellent) arrives, that matters improve.