Bilbo meets 300

Rating: 6/10 (24 December 2012)

From a spectator point of view, it is a poignant and enjoyable film. The image is perfect, effects are great, music very good, although some clichés here and there (dragon opens eye - boom - frightening music effect). A few scenes (the dwarfs arriving at Bag End and ensuing party) are wonderful.
From a reader who loves the book, it might be a little disappointing. Azog is a unconvincing Nemesis, sort of a surrogate for the Nazgul. The Necromancer brought to present eliminated the possibility of some scenes depicting Gandalf visiting Thorin's father in the dungeons, which would have been more related to the text. And the alterations goes on and on. In general, this first part of a unjustified trilogy - oh, sorry, of course it is justified, public will pay tickets 3 times instead of one - is a continuous battle scene in Hollywood cliché style. It is like the director didn't credited Tolkien's material for being enough convincing, and went for the easy path - a commercial one.
Going with my 4 years little boy to see it, the hilarious part was that he was quite afraid of Gandalf and the dwarfs, while some of the monsters didn't had the same effect (probably because they were trashed by the heroes).
My conclusion is that is a movie worth seeing for the fun of it, but who cannot replace the book or even do justice to it. When we got out I noticed an Anna Karenina poster, and could't help myself thinking, is it also an "ameliorated" Hollywood version? Does she falls for a vampire? Does she kicks ass with some phony martial arts moves and using some special gadgets? Will she raise after the train crashes her, as an indestructible robot? Who knows...