Seven years after “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” became the first straight-up fantasy film to win Best Picture, director Peter Jackson returns to Middle Earth. Besides a whole slew of familiar dwarves, wizards, elves, orcs, a Gollum, and one apprehensive hobbit, Jackson has a new trick up his sleeve that has Hollywood and the movie community all a-flutter:

A 3D 48-frame-per-second presentation.

Since the nearest places you can find this version of his new film “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” are the four theaters in Kansas City that are playing it, I’ll save discussion for the high-frame-rate (HFR) presentation until after I talk about the movie itself.

The novel “The Hobbit” was author J.R.R. Tolkien‘s dry run leading up to has vastly more detailed “Lord of the Rings” books, so the story is pretty familiar. Gandalf the wizard (Ian McKellan) plucks a content Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman; Tim from the U.K. version of “The Office”) from the Shire and he’s led on a great quest to help 13 dwarves reclaim their home from an evil dragon. if all turns out well — and how could it not — Bilbo will find his own courage in the process.

Jackson knows how to keep us grounded in Bilbo’s transformation from reluctant adventurer to selfless hero, but the stakes seem a little smaller in “The Hobbit,” so presumably that is the reason the action scenes are more frequent to make up for it. Of course, they’re spectacular, with first-rate visual effects artists at the top of their game and some thrilling fight choreography that rivals the best LOTR movies. The high point, not unexpectedly, is the one scene Bilbo shares with Gollum (voiced by the inimitable Andy Serkis), who looks even more expressive and convincing than he did in 2003.

“The Hobbit” has the same hurdle that the new “Amazing Spider-Man” movie has–so much of it feels like you’ve seen it before. It’s harder to relate to the dwarves than it is with the Fellowship, and the comedic scenes aren’t quite as effortless as “The Lord of the Rings,” but I was surprised at how quickly and willingly I submitted to the rhythms of Middle Earth. Jackson handles the storytelling style (which felt so alive in the early 2000s and now feels so quaint) with aplomb, so the movie felt like an old friend being welcomed back into your life.

It’s not revolutionary, it’s a bit long (at almost three hours, it feels padded), but “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” is still rousing ‘hero’s journey’ entertainment, handsomely mounted. I say, bring on the next two!

Now, on to the issue of its revolutionary theatrical presentation.

“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” was filmed at a rate of 48 frames per second, something Jackson and Co. are calling “high frame rate.” Essentially what that does is make a clearer, brighter image, supposedly free of motion blur, or strobing. We are used to seeing films at 24 frames per second, so that “filmic” quality disappears in favor of ultra-hi-res imaging.

But considering all the makeup and fakery of putting a movie together, do we really want a higher frame rate taking us farther away from the unreality of moviegoing? Jackson says HFR in tandem with 3D is the way to go.

“One of the biggest advantages is the fact that your eye is seeing twice the number of images each second, giving the movie a wonderful immersive quality. It makes the 3D experience much more gentle and hugely reduces eyestrain,” he said. “Much of what makes 3D viewing uncomfortable for some people is the fact that each eye is processing a lot of strobing, blur and flicker. This all but disappears in HFR 3D.”

My verdict, after seeing a 3-D HFR presentation, is simple: It was a new experience that thrilled me and frustrated me in equal measure, and I’m up for more movies in this format. I still noticed motion blur, especially in particularly fast-moving scenes, but I also enjoyed the way that the CGI special effects blended seamlessly with the actors and the new immersive quality the 3-D had.

That said, sometimes it did seem painfully obvious that these were actors in makeup on a set, at least at first. But, like any kind of moviegoing experience, i got used to it. About an hour in, I just accepted that this was a new kind of motion picture experience. Will it become the norm and make the history of cinema before now immediately antiquated? No. The last 100 years of film history will always be marked by its look and feel, just as the silents differ from the early sound films and the Technicolor epics differ from neo-realist dramas.

“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” is showing in 3D HFR at AMC Barrywoods 24, AMC Independence Commons 20, AMC Studio 30, and the Cinemark Merriam 20. Make up your own mind and let me know how it affected your experience.