Not quite a masterpiece, but still spectacular and definitely on par with Fellowship!

Rating: 9/10 (14 December 2012)

Just watched it in Bath and loved it!...I was the one with the wooden sword any Bath residents reading this. Anyway,the LOTR trilogy are my favourite films and I've read and loved the Hobbit novel. So yes...expectations were high going in, and expectations were on large met with ease and awesome results.
Yes, many of the problems the reviewers say are true; the story is slow at first, it suffers from minor side story bloat and a few of the special effects are silly and cartoony. But I promise you this, these things are minor and you will not notice them as this beautiful world and exciting story come to life before your eyes.
I watched the film in normal 2D, so I can't comment on the frame rate and such, but it all looked spectacular from what I watched.
It was fun, exciting, tense, interesting and downright hilarious at some points. Many times the cinema burst out with laughter. The bits of the book that needed straight adapting were beautifully adapted and changes were made when necessary. I pretty much universally loved Jackson's changes. The Riddles in the dark was AWESOME!!! Perfection!
Gollum was perfect! Somehow hilarious, terrifying and sad all at the same time. Freeman is Bilbo! End of story. The actor Martin Freeman has to be a cover up. It is Bilbo Baggins doing an amazing job playing Watson, Arthur Dent and Tim. Gandalf was just as great as in LOTR, if not better. Out of the 13 dwarfs we only really get to know Thorin, Balin, Bofer, Fili and Kili. Which is annoying because they are all great. More Dwarfs Jackson! Armitage plays the dark, brooding and yet brave and inspiring Thorin with perfection.
What more is there to say: Amazing acting, writing, directing, scenery, special effects and music (the misty mountains song - wow, I had shivers.) What the hell some of the critics are on I don't know. Not as good as Two towers and Return in my opinion, but it is the first film and it is pretty much on level with Fellowship. Watch it!!! :)