And we have another fail prequel after Star Wars

Rating: 5/10 (20 December 2012)

I was afraid this would happen after the 48 fps issue was so hyped. Just like Star Wars prequels, this movie does not try to be good. It tries to maximize profit at the expense of quality. It tries to be both a child movie and an adult movie and fails at being either of them. It is horribly slow paced as it tries to milk us as much as possible by making 3 movies out of a 300 page book. Funny fact: it will take longer to watch the trilogy than read the book. This should tell you how ridiculous the pacing is.
Neither the quest nor the dwarfs are interesting or something I care about. In my opinion, dwarfs deserved what they got so I do not feel any sympathy for them or their quest. They are also not interesting as there is almost no character development which is unforgivable considering the pacing. Only dwarfs with some character are the leader and the white bearded old one and even they are pretty shallow. Others are typical dwarf stereotypes and I couldn't see any character difference between them. All dwarfs combined aren't anywhere near as likable or interesting as Gimli from LOTR.
About half of the movie consists of action scenes with a lot of CGI. I personally think 48 fps 3D looks pretty good(it won't work for every movie but it is good for this one) but the scenes are extremely silly and implausible which makes it hard to enjoy the visuals. About 20% of the movie is non-action scenes that are enjoyable and has purpose. The rest of the movie(about 30%) is meaningless filler. A consequence of the extreme implausibility is that the movie completely lacks tension. In FOTR, it felt like the party could be killed at any moment. In this one, we have an inexplicably invincible party. As a result, watching the movie is like watching some noob play a computer game with cheats and thinking he is awesome.
The movie tries to appeal to children with extreme silliness but at the same time, it tries to be serious in some scenes. It just doesn't work. Although I would prefer a pure adult movie, I might have also liked this a lot better if it decided to be a pure child movie rather than this in-between mess. Some serious scenes are not the only reason it doesn't pass as a child movie of course. The movie contains quite a bit of explicit violence and has very questionable values. For example, orcs are not clearly established as evil. Somehow we are supposed to hate them just because they are ugly and dwarf leader says they are bad. This kind of movie can make a child prejudiced, intolerant and unable to see different perspectives. We are also supposed to like dwarfs despite them being greedy and selfish. Pedagogically, the movie is a disaster and in my opinion should not be watched by children. If it is not intended for children, what is with the extreme stupidity?
Fortunately, there are some positives that make the movie watchable. Bilbo is interesting, entertaining and his character is correctly developed. Martin Freeman does a fantastic job and his acting is a joy to watch. Ian McKellen is also quite solid as Gandalf. The "good morning" dialogue between Gandalf and Bilbo is one of the best dialogues I ever watched in a movie. Galadriel and Elrond are cool as always. Some sceneries are really beautiful. Main villains are interesting. Events that suggest the rise of Sauron give a good mystical and insidious feeling. That might seem like a lot of positives but most of them take very little screen time.
Everything considered, I give this a 6/10. If you want to watch some good visuals and are able to be not bothered by silliness, then you should watch this. But if you are expecting something like LOTR or even a good movie in general, you will be disappointed.