Picking apart the films is fine, but parodying it...
I've never laughed harder at 'Thorin Dreamboatshield' in my life.

Jut been to see the film myself, and I have to say, I loved it. Massive changes from the book, which I expected, but I find myself rather pleased with the way they expanded on it, for the most part.

The alterations I didn't like, mostly specific points:

-Thror's unexplained gold greed. I mean, my mind filled in the blank (Ring of Power) but my mum and sister, who have never looked at a Tolkien book in their lives, had no idea where it came from.

-Thranduil on a moose/elk/whatever? (My sister thought it was a reindeer.) For that matter, Thranduil coming all the way from Mirkwood just to watch the dwarves escape and then ride off again as soon as they shouted for help. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have risked being spotted by Smaug just to go look. It also made for a rather annoying excuse for angst and needless hostility towards Elves on Thorin's part, and possibly an excuse to cram in the "typical" Elf/Dwarf dislikes.

-The dwarves' manners. They were described in the book as calling for plenty of food, but the sense I always got was that they are supposed to be nobility of a sort, and they had manners enough to know how to eat without half the meal dribbling out of their mouths. I blame the portrayal of movie!Gimli for that - belching and spilling his ale. Very disappointed.

-Azog becoming the main antagonist. He is supposed to be DEAD.

-The Great Goblin was possibly the least pleasant image I could have imagined. Someone clearly decided to play around with alternate meanings of "great".

-No mention was given to how Bilbo worked out that the Ring was making him invisible.


But for the most part I find I very much enjoyed the way it was adapted. I was thrilled to see the backstory explaining why the quest was even taking place, especially Thorin earning his name of Oakenshield, and I liked the way the history led into the main story, particularly the exchange between older!Bilbo and Frodo that had so many callbacks to the opening of FotR.

The dwarves, for the most part, were far more rugged and shorter-bearded than I imagined when I read the book all those years ago - two-thirds of my lifetime ago, ye gods I feel old. XD However, I think I like these versions better, all except Bombur. I'm kinda disappointed that they made him look like such a joke compared to the others. I also like the way they don't have just a band of axe-wielders. They have excellent archers and slingers, hammer-wielders, and fine swordsmen. I've grown extremely fond of Fili and Kili - they definitely play their role as the youngest and liveliest of the group, even if their relationship to Thorin hasn't yet been made clear in the film. I rather hope it will be, it was one of the things I liked about those two - he's not just their leader and rightful king, he's their uncle.

Radagast... well, I was kind of thrown at first by the way he was portrayed, and I know there's been a big debate between others about him further down the thread, but I rather sort of came to like his portrayal. He's rather dotty, forgetful, and quite frankly a mess that people can and will poke fun at, but he has a wonderful kind of power when it comes to what he knows and loves. He's also extremely courageous. First, he walked into Dol Guldur - a known refuge of dark powers - and fought hand to hand with what is implied to be the Witch-King of Angmar or one of his servants, and RADAGAST was the one who won. Secondly, he came to warn Gandalf and then deliberately drew the pack of Warg-riding orcs off the dwarves, putting himself in danger to help his friend and cousin.

Rivendell was just as gorgeous as I remembered it, and I loved seeing more bits of it. I also have to opine that Elrond looks rather good on a horse. :P In fact, I like Elrond much more in this film than when he was being the overprotective dad in LotR. His role as Exposition Man in this film was well written, I think, with the moon-runes and his identification of the swords.

On that note, the meeting of the White Council was enjoyable; I was having to muffle the urge to cackle watching Saruman's attempts to downplay the seriousness of everything. Galadriel was nicely mystical as usual - standing in the background but prodding Gandalf on so he wouldn't just back down in front of Saruman. I look forwards to seeing how things pan out in the next films.

(Heading off on a random tangent here - it was rather nice to see how Elrond deferred a bit to everyone else, being as he is the most junior of the Council by several thousand years. Gandalf placed the Morgul-blade on the table, Elrond went to pick it up without even knowing what it was ("ooh, shiny"), and barely got warned off in time - I spotted him snatching his hand back. Random little moment, but it made me chuckle.)

With regards to the thunderstorm - I heard "Storm Giants", not "Stone Giants", whoever it was that heard it the other way.

The cave scene was quite touching - Bilbo had enough doubts to consider really going home without Thorin getting cranky about it, but his own acceptance of the fact that he's not cut out for adventure makes his eventual decision to stick with it all the better.

The dwarves' escape from the goblin halls fed my love of extended, inventive hand-to-hand combat scenes perfectly. Not much to say other than that I was inwardly cheering them on the whole way. :D

The Riddles In The Dark scene. OH MY VALAR. It was everything I could have hoped for with the exception of one or two omitted riddles. I very nearly squeed on seeing Gollum just as I remembered him from LotR, and the use of his split personality was brilliant. The final, dawning realisation of "...what has it got in its nasty little pocketses?" sent chills down my spine.

Bilbo's own escape from the tunnels was amazing. His struggle with his decision over whether or not to try to kill Gollum had me wibbling just a teensy bit, especially the moment where he chose not to and just leapt for freedom. His return to the group was less triumphant than I'd hoped, but his answer to Thorin's "Why did you come back?" made me melt. Because the dwarves haven't got a home any more, and he's going to help them get it back - it's such a hobbity, kind answer, it really shows the essential Bilbo-ishness.

The scene around the trees had me on the edge of my seat. Thorin's battle with Azog was rather nerve-wracking, and the most bewildering bit - his friends and relatives are struggling for their lives, but he forgets all about them just so he can go fight his mortal enemy. On the other hand, Bilbo's Tookishness in running to help, even if he didn't have a clue what he was doing, made me have to muffle the cheering. I'm a sucker for heroics.

On a similar note, I very nearly gnawed my nails off waiting for the eagles to arrive. Every time the tension wne t up a notch, I was thinking "surely it's time for them to show up? ...well, it's gotta be now, surely... any moment now... What the - THORIN IS AMOST DEAD WHERE ARE THE EAGLES PETER JACKSON GIVE ME THE DAMN EAGLES DWARVES ARE FALLING OFF THE CLIFF oh thank the Valar there they are".

And finally, the point where Thorin pretty much apologises to Bilbo left me practically skipping out of the cinema at midnight, and coming online as soon as I got home to spill all my excited thoughts at you guys so I can calm down enough to sleep.

So, here they are. I hope this isn't too much, but I wanted to share my opinions. It is, after all, a continuation of where the PPC first came from, and now, more than ten years later, the story - and the adventure - lives on.

I quite liked it, myself.

First off, as a film: I described it at the time as a mix between The Hobbit and LotR - not quite epic fantasy, but a lot more than the children's book. A fair number of people here have said they disliked that - I disagree. I think it worked well - the light and the serious in the same story.

Particularly given the framing device - that this is Bilbo's version written specifically for Frodo (as opposed to 'My Diary - My Unexpected Journey - There And Back Again - And What Happened After' - that telling of a lightened-up-epic-adventure is pretty much what you'd expect. Frodo is turning 33 on the day Bilbo thinks of writing it - or in Mannish terms, 18 or so. A fairly lighthearted story with some blood-pumping action scenes is about what you'd give him to read at that age.

But I also thought it worked for the audience (of which there were... um, not much more than a dozen, for some reason). The pocket handkerchief probably caught my attention first on this front - we have Bilbo's childish demand to turn back because he's forgotten his (similar to the book), but instead of someone having a spare, Fili (I think) throws him - a bit of his coat he rips off. Which is realism but also funny.

I also liked the way they used the songs - while carefully cutting out things like 'Tra-la-la-lally'. It is a shame about Fifteen Birds In Five Fir Trees, though.

On the filmic aspects I didn't like: the Goblin King was not very nice to look at, and didn't really seem to fit with his people. He seemed like he was about to pull out a novel or something. I can see why they did it - in fact, I agree that it's a good way to go with the character - but... not and make him look like that. The Hobbit is not a film you make to play games with your audience.

... kind of the only thing, really.

---

Okay, the adaptation. First off, the main plot:

Yeah, they mangled it around a bit. Thorin arrives late to the Party, they're not even heading for Rivendell, Bilbo loses them earlier, the whole Five Fir Trees scene was scrambled. But... really, they're not significant changes. Most of them - even the minor ones, like the way the troll scene ended - are within the realm of 'Well, I remember that differently, Bilbo!'. That troll scene - they used Bilbo, not Gandalf, to play for time, and then Gandalf broke a rock. Well, you know, the whole thing where the sun SUDDENLY was up and turning people to stone never made sense to me. Sunrises don't do that. Whereas stalling until sunrise and then making a way for it to get in is pretty darn clever.

(And yeah, they cut out the giant talking eagles and the 'let's have cooked breakfast in the Eyrie' scene. Can you blame them?)

As for the specific characters: I admit I can only identify about half the dwarves (Thorin, Fili, Kili, Gloin because I was looking for him, Balin, probably Dori, Bombur of course, and... one I gather is Bofur? Although I didn't get his name at the time. The Cossack). On the other hand, in the book I can only do Thorin, Fili-and-Kili, Bombur, and Balin. So that's kind of a plus.

I liked Thorin. My main problem was the amount of time he seemed to spend lying on his back with half-lidded eyes, glowering at people. But I liked the Lost Prince vibe.

Gandalf... um. Ian McKellan's a fan, isn't he? I actually think he overacted a lot of the lines from the book (I am Gandalf, and Gandalf... hmmm... hmmm... means ME), which is exactly the sort of thing a long-term fan would do with lines they know (think of people declaiming 'To be or not to be' - that sort of thing). But when he wasn't overacting, I liked him.

And I adored Bilbo. To the people who say he was barely in it - well, he was barely in that part of the book, either. He pretty much tags along and gets picked up by dwarves. The only things he does after leaving Hobbiton are a) bungle the troll scene, b) alert Gandalf to the goblins, and c) the Gollum scene. So this version was a lot more pro-active. And very well acted, in my opinion.

Specific scenes: Riddles in the Dark was very good. I felt for Gollum, I really did, and again - it was more serious than the book, but less than LotR. The problem of how to make a hungry monster volunteer for a game of riddles was well handled - and made use of Smeagollum, rather than just putting him in for fun.

Five Fir Trees was very much scrambled, but... again, it worked. (I assume none of the dwarves were in a position to go and help - we saw that with a couple, but it could have done with highlighting for the others).

(And I like the Stone - not Storm, Hellga, I think you misheard - Giants. They were fun. ;))

Um, essentially, and unlike 'Faramir is evil! Sam turns back! Elves go to the Hornburg! Flaming Denethor!', none of the changes broke character. If Thorin had been faced with an archenemy, he totally would have gone murder-happy. The only character changed was Bilbo - but we watched him gain more confidence during the film than he did in the book, so it didn't bother me.

So: as an adaptation of the book plot, it throws it around a bit, but not badly enough to bother me. But there's another aspect: the history.

---

Oh stars they messed that up. A quick count:

-Thror's gold-fever: actually pretty canonical, but I saw someone mention it. He wore a Dwarven Ring of Power, guys. The Seven are canonically attested to not sway Dwarves to Sauron, but rather to turn them inwards and fill them with gold-lust. So yeah, he probably would have been. And, Neshomeh, I didn't get the 'Smaug showed up because' vibe - I guess that's an interpretation, though.

-Azog, Thror, Khazad-Dum and Nanduhirion: Oh dear. That was a royal mess. From 'Thror enters Moria alone and is killed by Azog, so Thrain, Nain, Thorin and Dain wage war and kill him (but are scared off from entering Moria by Durin's Bane) we get 'Thror is killed in battle by Azog, Thorin fails to kill him, he goes wandering across Eregion hunting dwarves'. Yeah, pretty sure the Rangers would have something to say about that. 'The Wargs have come west of the mountains' is a significant thing in LotR - not so the movie version, since they were happily wandering over there all the time.

I don't think they needed a running villain - but it's the same decision-making process as brought down Dawn Treader, when they decided they needed to turn the book into a quest for seven magic swords. And no, Orcs - even Orcs from Gundabad - shouldn't be running around in the daytime (though did anyone notice how fast night fell after Bilbo returned near the end?). So I disagree with this change - I think it was pretty pointless and stupid - but fortunately, it wasn't that big a change. It lead to angsty!Thorin, some pointless Wargs (and Rivendell Lancers, which are from a computer game), but not much else. So there's that, at least.

-Radagast: I have gone on at length as to why I like this Radagast. I won't even try to rehash it here.

-The White Council: Again, I have no problem with them meeting while Mithrandir was in Rivendell anyway. They met several times as it is. I think Saruman was well-written (and very scathing - but as mentioned in the Radagast post, he never got on with the Bird-Tamer), and I liked the Galadriel-Gandalf interaction. I'm assuming Apparating!Galadriel was for dramatic effect, not an indication that she can either teleport or trap Gandalf in an illusion. Not sure what they were forshadowing with that 'If you ever need me' line, but I'm sure we'll find out.

-The Witch-King: Oh... dear. Assuming that was him in Dol Guldur, I guess Radagast would be able to see him - like Glorfindel, he was in Valinor at the time of the Trees, so he should live in 'both the seen and unseen worlds' (even if being a demigod doesn't automatically give him that power). But. Er.

'After the fall of Angmar the men of wherever took the Witch-King's body and buried it deep underground, blah darkness, blah never find, BUT LOOK SWORD'.

... which part of No living man may hinder me did they miss? It's not like Tolkien was subtle about this, you know - Merry's attack specifically 'pierc[es] the sinew behind his mighty knee', not some ethereal wossname. The Morgul Lord isn't a ghost - he's essentially a terrifying invisible zombie. The one thing he isn't is dead.

The only way I can reconcile that is by assuming the unheard name of who buried him (yes, I missed it) was his own allies, and that's just what they said when captured. But I don't think so, somehow.

---

So, final tally: I liked it as a film, wasn't too bothered about the plot changes, and was squirming through several pieces of the introduced extra plot. But overall, I enjoyed it, will see the other two, and will hope they mess things up less, not more, next time.

hS

I loved this movie! I haven't read the Hobbit since freshman year of high school, so I'm sorry to all the hardcore Tolkien fans who didn't enjoy it as much. But I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I didn't find the serious and humor bits to be that disjointed. It's the result of blending the original Hobbit style with Middle-earth's main storyline, and I think it works. It shows that, even with all the strife happening throughout the ages, there were still simpler moments being enjoyed by the average denizens of Middle-earth. (Not that Thorin's company are exactly ordinary, BUT)

I LOVE RADIGAST. Based on other comments, it sounds like he was pretty different in the books, but holy crap, I love him. He's probably my favorite Tolkien canon now, and I don't think I even had one before I watched this movie. Being someone who likes animals more than people myself . . . I didn't find him that strange. <. and as odd he acted still showed off some impressive talent what with evading the wargs fighting witch-king holy crap that entire scene was just utterly terrifying so i think portrayed a plenty competent wizard.>
The scene between Bilbo and Gollum was awesome. I do dislike when they replace an entire character with CGI, but in Gollum's case, I don't mind it, since a living actor could never portray his wasted-away form properly.

The thing I am most sad about is that they cut out ♪these silly little birds, they have no wings; oh what shall we do with the silly little things?♪ I get that orcs haven't really been established as a race that sings at all, but that was still an awesome, awesome song. ;_;

I wasn't bothered by the rehashed music; I had expected it, actually, and it feels like a natural choice, since it takes place in the same world/story.

I see what you all are saying about the changes - and some of them are more irritating than others, but I have learned with PJ to view movies as a rather AU fanfic rather than straight translations of books to the screen... so I don't get so worked up over all the differences. It's oodles better than the Two Towers, and I am glad for that. :)

____________________________(copied from my LJ)

I actually loved the movie quite a bit - though I tend to like almost everything I see in the theater, and my opinion may change a couple years down the road as I keep watching and rewatching it.

I would rate it 9/10 as a movie, and 5.5/10 as Tolkien adaptation.

I think what the movie does beautifully is show Bilbo's character development, and build Dwarves into really sympathetic characters, though there really was no opportunity for most of the Dwarves to develop a personality. Really only Thorin, Bofur and Balin get much speaking time, and out of the rest of them only Dwalin and Kili get a chance to do something more...
Thorin is not quite the book's Thorin in terms of his looks, though I think the personality of the Prince in Exile was captured quite well. And movie!Thorin is one hot Dwarf. The only character in the movie I really wanted to fangirl.

The prologue with Bilbo and Frodo - I think it was unnecessary, but I can understand PJ's desire to connect this movie to the previous ones for the non-Tolkienite audience. It does work, so I am not against it.

The Erebor part of the prologue did bring out sarcasm in me. I do buy into the idea that it was a great and powerful kingdom, but not to such an extent. Dwarves did not even live there for that long, with moving to the Grey Mountains and then back... I intensely disliked them showing Thranduil coming to pay homage to Thror... as if!!! I should also say I don't like PJ's vision of the caves - any of them. Makes me wonder if he has ever seen a real cave.

I did love how the Smaug's attack was shown. And his lovely tail. The pinkish tint to his red color made me wonder what a hot pink Smaug would look like. What I did not like is that the Elves arrived there to watch the attack (how did they get there so quickly?) and then watched until it was all over - then turned around and left. At least they did not applaud... I simply don't get why PJ wanted to amplify the dislike between Dwarves and Elves to such an extent. Makes me really wonder how he is going to show the whole Mirkwood portion of the movie...

I liked the Bilbo-Gandalf meeting scene, and how at times they quoted the book directly. While hobbit-hole being overrun by Dwarves was slightly different from the book - it was quite well done. And I *love* Dwarven singing. I loved it in the trailer and I loved in the movie.

Bilbo's decision to join the group is all his own, without Gandalf's interference (though here he did not have to clean up after Dwarves' breakfast - that could make a difference ), but dynamics between him and the Dwarves is more based on the Unfinished Tales and the Quest for Erebor than on the Hobbit book itself.

The whole Troll scene plays out rather different from the book in the beginning (though the end is the same). The Trolls were rather sympathetic in their own way, I must say, and their culinary discussion reminded me of the Ratatouille a bit. I actually liked that the Dwarves were more battle-ready than in the book, though why were they so incompetent? Was that the first time they ever encountered a troll, or what?

I liked the realistic depiction of their cave - with the flies and the stench, but the Elvish swords made me wonder. Why did the Sting glow blue but not Glamdring and Orcrist? They are all three made in Gondolin... Sure, the books don't specifically mentino Glamdring or Orcrist glowing, but is that the question of Aragorn's pants or is there something more to it? I invented a theory that maybe Bilbo's sword, being small in size but shaped more like a sword than a dagger, was a child's sword. And that's why it glowed - a child may not be able to discern approaching orcs, but an adult elf should be able to.

The battle of Azanulbizar was shown as a flashback and on the whole I rather disliked it as a Tolkien adaptation, though it does fit with the way PJ wanted to build the movie. The story was told by Balin to Bilbo and Fili and Kili - I am surprised those two did not know it, being his own nephews. Sure, they were too young to have taken a part in it - but surely they have heard it many times before. I was disappointed that there was some random battle cry instead of the famed Baruk Khazad! - probably because most of the Dwarves, for whatever reason, used weapons other than axes? I also disliked how the battle flow was shown. Azog beheaded Thror - Thrain instantly went mad - Dwarves started running in panic instead of going to avenge their king. Then Thorin did remember he was a Prince and a Hero and attacked Azog (I understand not introducing Nain and Dain here, there is barely time to develop the major characters). Somehow ended up without a sword or a shield (I always imagined that he lost his shield when it simply ended up cracked by taking too many strikes in the course of the long battle!) and defended himself with an oak branch (more like oak fireplace log!) and then managed to chop off Azog's hand (not the head). Also, I couldn't help laughing every time I head The Pale Orc - made me think of Die Blonde Bestie...

Even though Dwarves have won the battle, there were not enough of them left alive to retake Moria and so they had to remain exiled homeless people. And Azog became the main enemy of this movie (and possibly movie Number 2 and maybe even Number 3 since he is left alive at the end of this particular movie. He also put a price on Thorin's head and sent out his Orcs to hunt for him - while camping out on Amon Sul. Made me wonder how Dunedain allowed that - then I remembered that in the Jackson's version of Middle-earth they do not exist.

Radagast episodes were not as annoying as they could have been, though I think they were quite unnecessary nonetheless. I think the story of Dol Guldur could have been retold by Gandalf, as in the book - even if they wanted to show it as a new development instead of a 400-year old story it was... Cutesy animal scenes I did not care for.

I intensely disliked the Dwarves being chased into Rivendell by the Orcs. First the incompetent Dwarves who can't dispose of the single Orc scout with less that six or so blows, allowing him ample time to alert everyone. Then Elrond and his little army riding out to fight the Orcs who have crossed!!! Bruinen!!! and not even managing to slay all of them...

Elrond was the same rather grouchy movie!Elrond and mockingly fed the Dwarves only salad accompanied by Elvish music. The White Council was taking place in Rivendell at the same time Dwarves were there. I suppose it is OK for it to be held there - I don't think books specify where it had taken place... even if I personally have a hard time imagining Saruman leaving Orthanc willingly by that time... What I have an issue with is why the Council discussed Thorin's merry band instead of Dol Guldur. And the idiotic phrase about 400 years of peace - where was that peace, pardon me? And where the heck did you get the 400 year mark from? What the scene did show well was the dynamics of Gandalf+Galadriel vs Saruman. Galadriel was the same as in LotR - though I liked here a bit better here than in FotR. The little nitpicky things - her silver nail polish (did not know Elvish manicure techniques were that advanced) and that she was only at most an inch taller than Gandalf, instead of good 10-12 inches...

I had no problems with pacing of the movie (some critics complained it was rather slow) up to this point, but after Rivendell I did have many issues with it. The battle of the mountains coming to life (Storm Giants, they called them in the movie) was utterly unnecessary, full of cheap CGI and far too long. The other scene that was far too long was the whole running through the Goblin Town.

I really liked the conversation between Bilbo and Bofur on the steps of the Goblin Town. I think it is a key scene for the movie!Bilbo character development and a very strong scene in and of itself. In the Goblin town itself, I missed the song - that was the one thing I really liked in the Rankin-Bass cartoon... The King was ugly but not so ugly as to distract from the proceedings. The whole scene should have been edited to about half its length, especially the part after Gandalf rescues the Dwarves. Though I really liked the one minor detail - the scribe!

Almost every reviewer I have read so far has loved the Riddles scene. I must say I did not find it that impressive - maybe because it was interspersed with the chase through the Goblin town? Gollum is very good, but really quite the same as we have seen him in TTT and RotK. The Gollum scene I really loved was the one at the very end, where Bilbo was thinking whether to kill Gollum, and poor Smeagol was so crushed by the loss of the ring...

Then the famous flaming fir cones battle took place. It was not too bad, but I rather disliked one change PJ has made. Thorin jumped out of the tree to fight Azog - OK, that part I can buy, it is not out of character for him. What I refuse to buy is that no one, not even Fili and Kili, followed him - but Bilbo Baggins the Amazing Fighting Hobbit did. And even was more successful against the warg-riding Orcs than the warrior Thorin. The only reason for this scene to be there, I suppose, is that they could then show Thorin finally accepting Bilbo as the member of his company, but I still did not care for it.

The Eagles did come but they really did not talk. They simply deposited them all atop Carrock and left. The final few moments were quite well done...
I am looking forward to seeing the movie at least one more time, and to the two films that follow. After FotR, I had very high hopes for TTT which unfortunately were sorely disappointed - I hope with the second Hobbit movie it will not be the case.

I saw the movie last night and I have to say that I probably would have liked it more if I hadn't read the book first. Overall it's a good movie, but all the canon discrepancies really detracted from my enjoyment of the film.
The biggest thing that bothered me was Radagast. I'm not really sure what I was expecting from him, but that was definitely not it. We're talking about a wizard who's supposed to be at about the same level as Gandalf, but they made him seem like just some reclusive loony who enjoys mushrooms a bit too much. I also was somewhat bothered by that fact that even though Bilbo was the main character the focus wasn't really on him as much as it was on Gandalf.
Other minor bothers include the lack of new music, Thranduil on a moose, and at the very end when the eagles just drop them off on a mountain in the middle of nowhere.
I think that the underlying issue is that they tried to direct The Hobbit in the same way that they directed The
Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit was originally written as a children's book, while The Lord of the Rings is a lot darker and more complex, so trying to direct them the same way is just looking for failure.
Just one last random little tidbit: even though Smaug didn't speak once Benedict Cumberbatch's name is still in the credits. I have no idea why, maybe he voice-acted the roars? :D Just the thought of that is hilarious to me

I saw it on the midnight showing with some friends, and I thought it was pretty damn good. I'm still not quite sure it really NEEDS to be three movies that are three hours a piece, but I like this one so far.

I won't speak to what I thought of it as a Tolkien adaptation, because I haven't read The Hobbit since the late 90's. What I will talk about is how this stacked up as a movie.

Let me break down what I thought. The pacing was atrocious. There was no time to breathe between some action sequences and yet there were large portions of the film that were, to me, composed of useless filler. They needed to use their time more effectively. For instance, after three hours, I still had no idea who most of the Dwarfs were. I knew Thorin, Fili, Kili, Bofur, Balin and Dwalin. That's it. Out of 13 Dwarves, I could identify six. The rest will have to get used to being "the fat one" or "the one with the funny hair". Cut some of the sweeping panoramic views and use that time to flesh out the characters.

I would also like to address the crap job that they did with the CG in the movie. I mean, we have seen what CG can do, and this was absolutely sub-par. Thranduil on the moose (don't even get me started on the moose) at the beginning looked plastic. I'm not even sure if there is an actor behind all of that. The CG, throughout the movie, was obvious and without restraint. If you have millions of dollars to spend on CG, you'd damn well better get your money's worth. The CG in Lord of the Rings was better than this, and that was made a decade ago. Shouldn't we be better now than we were back then?

One of my biggest disappointments was that they reused so much of the music from the Lord of the Rings movies. I was looking forward to a lot of new, awesome music but we mainly got rehashes of the same themes, with the exception of the Lonely Mountain song that the Dwarfs sang early on, which was everything I was hoping for. Then they played that over and over and over again until I got sick of hearing it. Then there was the random Isengard bad guy music that they played when Thorin was being badass near the end. It made no sense and I expect better.

Now, let's get down to the biggest problem I had with the film. It has no idea what it wants to be. It is trying to be both a serious action/adventure and a light-hearted cartoon. The problem is that it doesn't do either one very well. Each action scene went on way too long and then, like I said earlier, slammed right into the next action scene without any real break. As for the light-hearted cartoon, all the jokes were cliched and you could see them coming a mile away. Some of them were even stuck into sections where they were trying to be dramatic, which completely destroyed both purposes.

So, overall, I have to give the movie 4.5/10 as a film. It isn't the worst movie I've ever seen, but it wasn't even near the standard that Lord of the Rings set.

-Phobos, Theatre Professional

Not in DMS or Floaters... Maybe the Department of WhatThe. Or DoGA. Or some other under-loved department that could tackle the incoming Hobbit badfics...