The book is long. This...

Rating: 6/10 (11 May 2013)

Padding. Padding padding padding.
This was very thin. There are arguments for and against literal interpretations of popular classics, and this is against.Nothing happens for almost two hours, and then, when it does, you don't really care. I like Martin Freeman, even in the awful (nay sacrilegious Hitchhikers) but I wouldn't chose to spend this much time in his company without a drink - a fate not suffered by any of the crew.
The original LOTR is approx. 1000 pages over 3 movies. The original Hobbit is approx. 400. The LOTR covers the destruction of an evil empire and hordes of hundreds of thousands of distorted man forms to recover the purity of Middle Earth from a messianic overlord.
The Hobbit effectively covers exterminating a rogue frog.
Padding! Enjoy.