The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey especially in the early going." Kate Muir of "The Times" gave the film four out of five stars, saying Martin Freeman "perks up" the film as Bilbo Baggins and that Jackson's use of 48 frames per second 3D technology gives the film "lurid clarity". Dan Jolin of "Empire" gave the film four out of five stars and thought "The Hobbit plays younger and lighter than Fellowship and its follow-ups, but does right by the faithful and has a strength in Martin Freeman's Bilbo that may yet see this trilogy measure up to the last one" and he stated that "There
Middle-earth in film completed what Bakshi had started with their own animated adaptation of "The Return of the King", based on their own concepts previously applied to their earlier animated adaptation of "The Hobbit". The first live-action film depicting characters and stories of Middle-earth was shown in 1985 in the Soviet Union. "Skazochnoye puteshestviye mistera Bilbo Begginsa Khobbita" () [The Fabulous Journey of Mr. Bilbo Baggins the Hobbit] was a film based on the events of "The Hobbit". Shot in 1984 as a teleplay and produced in the framework of the children's TV series "Tale after Tale" (), it featured actors such as