Decent entertainment, but does not quite live up to the hype

Rating: 5/10 (23 December 2012)

After perceiving all these mixed critical views on the movie, I simply had to see the movie myself to investigate the fuzz(3D, upgraded fps).
First, I want to compliment the positive aspects of the movie. The technology is state of the art, I give credits to mister Jackson attempting this technology. Consequently, the movie is breathtaking at times, with fantastic scenery and great depth in details in the major fighting scenes. Also great is Gollum, definitely the highlight in this movie for my part. His portrayal and expression is simply marvelous, perhaps enhanced with the higher frame rate. And finally, the trek itself is interesting, though not as compulsive as LOTR at all. Funny that Elrond actually seems older in this movie though (!!).
However, I think most of the points above have a stronger negative force that really draws the movie down (except Gollum, who is still phenomenal). The new technology makes the movie at certain points look like a cheap soap opera/theatrical play. The effect of these 'comical reliefs' are enhanced by the very long storytelling of the movie, where the trek itself doesn't start before 30 mins at least. I find it courageous that songs are included, which I found to be very interesting in the book, but much less interesting in the movie. Also, the landscape and such does resemble some sort of nature documentaries. I really did not like the fact that Jackson extended the book onto 3 parts (x 3 hours each?), which I think kinda disrupts the flow of the storytelling and plot. Considering the fact that I paid 20 euros to see just one movie, i will definitely not spend 60 to see the whole trilogy, as the story is simply not compelling enough!
So it only gets 6/10 from me. It was an interesting experience with the new technological effects, but the movie and story itself is more or less too long and bland. But I guess Hollywood doesn't care, they got a triple cash cow in the financial crisis :)