Critical reception
Patsy Morita of Allmusic wrote favourably about An Unexpected Journey, but noted that the soundtrack was not as "sweeping and epic as that for [Jackson's] The Lord of the Rings", attributing this to the smaller scale of Bilbo's adventure compared to the events of The Lord of the Rings. [6] Danny Gonzalez of Examiner.com , however, was very positive, commenting that The Hobbit soundtrack matched the style and tone of The Lord of the Rings, and that the opening for An Unexpected Journey was much better than that of The Fellowship of the Ring. [7] Christian Clemmensen of Filmtracks wrote "despite all these issues, Shore's music for this franchise remains more intellectually constructed and impressively rendered than anything else churning out of the industry during this time. Just as it was with The Phantom Menace in 1999, tapered expectations are absolutely necessary to appreciate An Unexpected Journey. And regardless of whatever issues linger with the score as it resides in the film, collectors someday will be treated, based upon precedent, to the truly complete recordings that will yield a stunning, five-star listening experience on their own." [8]
Jonathan Broxton of Movie Music UK wrote "The score for An Unexpected Journey fits confidently within the pantheon of Howard Shore’s Lord of the Rings universe, regularly alluding to the existing themes, manipulating them once in a while to keep them fresh and interesting, and blending them seamlessly with the half dozen or so new musical identities specific to this film. Anyone who enjoyed the music of original Lord of the Rings trilogy will find a great deal to their liking here too, as its layers, depths and complexities reveal themselves more and more with repeated listens." [9] Writing for Music Muse, "As the trilogy gets grander in scale, as it surely will, Shore’s new music could reach heights beyond the wildest of our imaginations. Until then, An Unexpected Journey will be playing for a long time". [10] Music Cues based critic wrote: "though, no matter which album you go for, whilst the score’s flaws in the film are no doubt disappointing, looking at it as a standalone soundtrack album, it is in my opinion the finest score of 2012 that fits well into Shore’s already well-established musical world of Middle Earth. Anyone who enjoyed the Lord of the Rings scores will certainly enjoy this. Familiar favourites return from those scores, with Shore ensuring that they’re presented in new and interesting arrangements, and the score contains a whole host of enjoyable new music as well. The depth and complexities in the music make repeated listens beneficial to the enjoyment of it, and I for one can’t wait for the next two instalments." [11]
Tracksounds based critic Edmund Meinerts wrote: "The Hobbit is a fantastic achievement, a worthy chapter in the ongoing musical legendarium of Middle-earth and, for this reviewer, the finest film score of 2012." [12] James Southall of Movie Wave wrote "There are some fine highlights (the action finale “Out of the Frying Pan” is pretty spectacular) and it’s very clear from the general reaction that my feelings place me firmly in the minority – and frankly it’s not difficult to imagine that the unnecessarily padded film left Shore in a much more difficult place than the fine ones he scored for Jackson before – but ultimately, it feels like a huge chore to sit through it all." [13] The song "Misty Mountains" became popular among Tolkien fans. [14]
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