As a student in college, I saw ‘Eragorn’ and wanted to pluck out my eyes, the book was a delight, the movie was disaster. The ‘Harry Potter’ movies came close but veered off course towards the end. An ‘Interview with a Vampire’ gave me characters I could understand but nothing as visually stunning as the words of Anne Rice.

No book has ever had a better adaptation than ‘The Lord of the Rings’. No movie before or after has ever come so close to matching the fantasy my mind saw, Peter Jackson had put on film what my mind had made up as it interpreted the world of J. R. R. Tolkien. It was a world I felt I had dreamed into life. When it ended, I cried, tears of joy and anguish. Joy at how beautiful it was, anguish that there was no more to return to in films.

I first read Tolkien’s Legendarium in my tenth year in school, reveling in every book, every phrase, every word. So when the films were announced, my mind did not want to comprehend how it would do. Giving life to Tolkien’s world outside of my vivid imagination was a very worrying concept, I was enthralled at how Jackson did it.

For the last nine years as the squabble over ‘The Hobbit’ continued, I hoped and prayed that a return to Middle-earth would be possible. I was honestly glad that Guillermo Del Toro was not doing the film, a fantastic director he truly is, but a vision of Middle-earth from his eyes would be vastly different from the one created by Jackson.

'The Hobbit', for all its darkness, is a light cheerful read. It has the journey to a distant mountain similar to 'The Lord of the Rings', but it is a journey that isn’t told from the view of men and elves and greater people, it’s a hobbit’s tale, it is light, it is funny, it warms your heart and reminds you of that child who was afraid of the dark and needed a nightlight. It takes you back to being a child and overcoming those fears and becoming more than you were.

With the book being converted into three films, people have been going on about how Jackson’s betrayed the book and sold out, studio buzz, etc. I can’t tell you how thankful I am that he’s doing that. For someone who has read the appendices and hoped to see some of it on screen, the vision that Jackson has brought forth is wondrous.

The day 'The Hobbit' released, I watched it twice. It was every bit what I had imagined and more. I was happy, I even cried during the riddle in the dark. If ever I thought 'The Lord of the Rings' fit the books, 'The Hobbit - an Unexpected Journey' is just the book.

I was disappointed to read some of the reviews, but I don’t expect them to understand. They were returning to the Lord of the Rings, I was returning to Tolkien’s Legendarium and Jackson’s Middle-earth. The combination of the two is something I can barely put into words. For me 'The Hobbit' was all it could be and more. It was like coming home again after a very long wait. Everything was familiar and yet vastly different. It fit perfectly to what I expected. It wasn’t too long, it wasn’t long enough.

I could go on about how perfect I thought 'The Hobbit' was, but I need to end here.

I look forward to watching the extended version on DVD, I look forward to December 14th, 2013, I look forward to drowning in the world of Tolkien all over again for as long as I can. Secretly I’m hoping that they make the Silmarillion and possibly the rest of it as well. I would love to see Beren and Luthien on screen together.

Sir Peter Jackson, you possibly are the luckiest reader, you get to take the words and put them on screen, I envy you that I could never do the same. But thank you, your vision is beautiful.

I've watched it four times since its release, I'm looking forward to more viewings this week!

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