I finally watched the Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey this weekend. I had very low expectations. Of course, I loved the Lord of the Rings movies. Simply the greatest fantasy adventure films ever made. Almost undeniably.

But something about the Hobbit wasn't sitting well with me.

The reviews were underwhelming and the trailers failed to get me fired up. The notion of turning this amazing, but smallish, novel into an nine hour+ epic seemed indulgent and unnecessary to say the least. So I did not go see it in the theaters. I missed the opportunity to watch it in 3D or 48 fps.

I was a fool.

I LOVED it! All 169 (too few) minutes of it was amazing. I did not want it to end. We were transported back to middle earth perfectly. Immersed, once again, completely in one of the greatest imaginations mankind has ever produced. I loved being there. I can't wait to go back. It was not simply a retread of familiar territory as it could have been. Yes there were familiar faces and sites but there were many more new ones. There was the playfulness which is characteristic of the novel here in full force and in opposition of the seriousness of the Lord of the Rings.

I felt the tone of the Hobbit was spot on for my feelings of the novel and I felt the expansion of the story, to take us deeper into that world, was executed perfectly. I mean, if you are going back to middle earth, than stop for a bit and take a look around. If we have decided to go to such expense to create this world again, then I want to spend as much time there as I possibly can.

Perhaps, in some ways, this one was definitely more for the fans than the masses but I say it is all the better for it. I loved every minute detail and I can't wait to go back.

The world outside my window just doesn't compare to Peter Jackson's Middle Earth.