Jackson's genius ruined by Hollywood greed

Rating: 6/10 (19 December 2012)

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey greatly lacks the authenticity of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Hobbit is overblown, overdressed, formulaic, the script is dumbed down for 5 year olds and the cast of dwarfs look more like characters in a Disneyland revue than from the Middle Earth of J.R.R. Tolkien's imagination. Who are the bozos that authorized such stupid additions to this film? I can't imagine PJ thought this was appropriate.
Right off the bat the movie insults the audience with a joke about croquet, a sport invented by the British in 1856. I doubt if Tolkien had ever envisaged his dwarfs to know anything about some frilly game invented by the British upperclass in the 19th century. Tolkien's dwarfs are supposed to be much closer to the characters of Beowulf and Norse mythology than Victorian England. And for the record, dwarfs should NEVER drink tea (tea became popularized in England in the 17th century-long after the time of Beowulf!)
Really sick of Hollywood treating us, the ticket-buying public, like a bunch of idiots. I will wait for the second edition of this unnecessarily extended film to go to DVD. Special effects and IMAX 3D are nice but not at the expense of a good book!