Pretty good, but expected more.

Rating: 7/10 (27 December 2012)

I do admit, I had high expectations for this movie. I just finished the book as it released. I loved the mythology in this movie. I loved the action sequences and the visual experience. I especially enjoyed the escape from the goblin dungeon scene. Now, this movie was just too long and slow. The scene in which the dwarfs unexpectedly arrive at Bilbo's house goes on for 20 minutes. The orcs also were made a little too creepy for my taste. This also does not entirely follow the book. In this, Azog the giant pale orc returns and tries to kill Thorin and Bilbo. In the book, he is mentioned in the past but not in the present. There is also a scene in the movie in which there is a big conversation about a creature called a nercromancer, who can bring up the dead. This is obliquely mentioned in the book, and becomes a threat in the movie. I also found that the film makers went out of there way to not be able to see the evil dragon Smaug. I also have to say, that Martin Freeman, who plays Bilbo was fantastic. It was hard for me to understand what gollum was saying when we meet him. I did enjoy the ending scene, in which they are saved by giant eagles. In the book, Thorin does not have anything against Bilbo, and he never is seriously injured. In the movie, he hates Bilbo, and is crunched on by a gigantic wolf, called wargs. I did like seeing Frodo at the beginning of the movie. This movie also had bad luck. It was before lord of the rings but the movie came out after. Maybe i would of liked more, knowing Lord of the Rings was next. I also did not enjoy some of the dwarfs. Some were funny, strong and good acting, some were useless. Gandalf was great as usual, and I liked how they managed to put in Galadriel and Saruman, who in the lord of the rings, turns evil. Overall, this was pretty good, but didn't live up to the phenomenal Lord of the Rings trilogy.