The Hobbit - Not LOTR

Rating: 7/10 (21 January 2013)

The short: 48fps. Looks just like Lord of the Rings. Is NOT Lord of the Rings.
The long: It's pretty good. It looks gorgeous. The colours, sets etc are exactly the same as Lord of the Rings, which is a good thing. But it's also not Lord of the Rings. It's based on a short story that Tolkein wrote for his kids, or grand kids. Either way, it's not 3 films worth of material.
That's it's greatest flaw. There is not enough story for 3 films. What's there isn't done badly by any means, but it should have been 2 films, not 3 - and this is coming from someone who liked the film. The initial opening is dull. Long and dull, and oddly uninviting. It goes on for ages, but yet doesn't manage to introduce Hobbiton or characters the way The Fellowship of the Ring did. Which is odd, since The Hobbit has far less in terms of narrative events to work with.
Guillermo del Toro was originally set to direct, and maybe it would have been better if he had, if for no other reason than it would have been quite different to LOTR. Jackson does a fine job, but it's just more of the same with less substance. del Toro might have brought a completely different vision.
Should you see it is 48fps? Yes, even if just to see what it's like. For the most part, it's great. Creamy, vibrant and bright. Some few small flaws, like the occasional motion looking oddly too quick, but overall it looks great. Obviously people have different views on it. My view is that it's worth seeing at least once. There'll be two more films that you don't have to see in 48fps if you don't like it.
The action scenes are fantastic. There's one flashback scene where dwarfs are fighting Orcs, and it looks superb. Which brings me to the next point: the dwarfs don't look like dwarfs. They look like normal guys, and Gandalf is just really tall. Compared to Gimli, these "dwarfs" don't look like dwarfs at all. It's disappointing. Maybe the decision was made because the dwarfs are very prominent characters, as opposed to Gimli, who was really the only dwarf in LOTR.
I'll be looking forward to the next installments.