Finally got to watch it yesterday, have loved Jackson's Middle Earth so I felt I was safe to just go out and buy it.
Overall I enjoyed it very much, right from the start with the familiar Hobbit theme in the score starting up. Love it.
I wouldn't change much of anything, I really liked the exposition of things that happen "off page" in the book (white council meeting, Radagast, back story on the fall of Erebor, reclaiming Moria, etc), however I could have done without the Pale Orc subplot with Thorin. I feel like it was taking away from Bilbo being the main focus of the movie. I was kind of hoping that plot was going to be quickly resolved near the end, but it looks like it will carry into the next one.
Solid acting all around, Freeman is great as Bilbo and the recurring cast is solid as always (how can you not love Ian McKellan as Gandalf, so good!), I'd give this first entry in the trilogy a very solid 7/10.
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