Surprisingly awesome

Rating: 9/10 (1 January 2013)

This is about as conflicted as it gets for me. The LOTR trilogy comprise some of the greatest movies ever made by my account, so why wouldn't I want Peter Jackson to bring us back to Tolkien's magical world? Things change, though. The Dark Knight Rises felt almost nothing like The Dark Knight, so would Jackson be able to re-engineer the magic from his previous movies? Once I found out the Hobbit was being split into 3 movies, I was pretty skeptical. After all, the source material is often referred to as a children's book, somewhat different than the epic trilogy that follows it. In the end, though, I should never have had any doubt. Jackson sculpts another excellent 3+ hour movie.
If you've seen any of Jackson's original trilogy, than you have a good idea what you're going to get: amazing cinematography set against a New Zealand backdrop, a thunderous score by Howard Shore and impeccable acting, all of which help bring to life an amazing fantasy world. While The Hobbit does have a familiar feel, it also has some new touches of flair. For starters, you are getting a completely new cast except for Ian McKellen. Martin Freeman does a great job as a young Bilbo, and all of the dwarfs are perfectly cast, especially Richard Armitage (Thorin Oakenshield, the group leader). There is also a different and more frequent use of humor in this movie compared to the trilogy, probably because the book itself was written in a lighter tone. More serious fans might find this annoying, but it fits the story and ends up being a nice change of pace in my opinion. Another thing to mention is that this film is long. Most would expect that since it is Peter Jackson, but since it's only 1/3 of the story there are slower parts. That being said, they also pour a ton of action into the first chapter. I went in expecting to basically just see a setup film, but a ton happened and I can't wait to see it continue next December.
Overall, the first installment of the Hobbit is very different than the LOTR but that doesn't have to be a bad thing. The tone and feel are both different, but you're still watching a Peter Jackson movie, which means it's almost unrivaled in terms of scale and production quality. If you can handle the length, I'd say this is a must see this holiday season.
9/10