Visually great, but somewhat flawed on the characters...

Rating: 7/10 (4 January 2013)

Having enjoyed the first three movies that Peter Jackson managed to shake out of his creative sleeve, then of course I had to watch the prequel as well. Although I am a big fan of the fantasy genre, I have never really delved into the hype about these movies. Sure they are enjoyable, but not masterpieces. What was really great about "The Hobbit" for me, was all the places that I recognized from having played Lord of the Rings Online.
The characters in this movie, was as in the previous ones, great and nicely detailed. However, I think the band of dwarfs were too generic and lacked individual personalities. The movie didn't really focus enough on the dwarfs, nor did it give them much chance to really form and build any characteristics. It was more about showing off spectacular landscapes and majestic scenery.
Although being a huge fantasy fan, I never got around to reading any of Tolkiens work, but always had the plan to do so. So as in terms of how much (or not) "The Hobbit" is true to the story that Tolkien wrote down and immortalized, that I can only guess about. But there is a lot of work that has been put into the movie, especially with the level of details there is to everything. And as a fan of details, then it was a real treat to sit through this movie.
The wargs, orcs and goblins were, as the prior movies, really nicely detailed. However, how odd it is to say, then they were actually displaying more individual characteristics and personalities than the band of dwarfs did. Which was sort of a sad thing. All throughout the movie, you just really root for one single dwarf, and that being Thorin, while the rest merely just get the occasional shrug of the shoulders, as they are too generic.
Having worked in a bookstore, I am familiar with the size of the novel "The Hobbit", so it is sort of interesting how Peter Jackson is planning to turn it into a full trilogy - as that is how I have come to understand this to turn out to become. I guess a whole lot more of prolonged scenes of showing off landscapes and scenery as he did in this one.
On a personal note, then it would be interesting to see the Dungeons & Dragons universe brought to life with the same amount of money and production value as they used for the Lord of the Rings movies.
All in all, "The Hobbit" is a beautiful movie that is entertaining, but could have used a tad more energy on the characters that the story revolved around.