I saw it last night with my family. I cannot begin to explain how utterly disappointed I was in this film. I think for the first time ever I felt offended leaving the theatre after watching one of childhood memories be butchered but unnecessary Hollywood antics and completely unnecessary deviations from one of the greatest stories ever told.
I won't go through the laundry list of issues I have with the film (and there are a number of them) but I will touch on what I found to be the worst of the worst.
The 3D - this is been discussed in this thread and you can put me in the camp that utterly despises this ridiculous Hollywood cash grab. It is unnecessary, distracting and completely takes away from some of the amazing imagery created by the world of middle earth. Good films can make you forget you are watching a movie, all the 3D effects did was remind me that I was sitting in a cramped theatre with a ridiculous pair of glass hanging off my face. Unfortunately it wasn't just the visual aspects of the film that made it so painful to watch. It was the content of the film as well.
The multiple beginnings - I understand why they needed the prologue and back story of the Dwarves motivation but it felt out of place being right off the top of film. It would be better sprinkled throughout the story, similar to the book. What I do not understand in the pointless and awkward exchange between Frodo and Bilbo thereafter. It was not in the book and didn't serve any purpose to the film other then the nod to the LOTR. In the same way that The Return Of The King was heavily criticized for having too many endings, the Hobbit has too many beginnings.
The explanation (or lack thereof) for Bilbo agreeing to join the party on their journey - in the book this is explained by Bilbo's "Took-ish-ness" he gets from his mothers side who is rumored to have fairy blood. In the film his Tookishness nature hardly mentioned and never explained in depth.
The Pale Orc and Thorin subplot - I’m fairly sure there are no scenes in the book involving a Pale Orc who hunts Thorin while Bilbo and the company are on the road. That is invented, and an entirely unnecessary embellishment that serves just to tack on another big, menacing, ugly villain to the story so Jackson can have his juvenile tough-guy-hero-versus-snarling-villain subplot.
After enjoying most the film adaptions of the LOTR I was thoroughly disappointed by this imagination of The Hobbit.
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