The first of three movies adapting J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit is in theaters now. Brought to you by the same team that did the Lord of the Rings trilogy, it’s more of the same, only with lots more dwarves. My full review is up at buzzymag.

An excerpt:
The novel The Hobbit was written before The Lord of the Rings–it is a simpler, lighter story. In adapting it the screen, Peter Jackson faced the dual challenge of handling a prequel after a successful sequel and trying to please both fans of the original material and fans of the previous movies. Not an easy task, by any means.