Brilliant but too much padding out

Rating: 8/10 (24 December 2012)

The first thing I must say about film makers doing classic works like this, is that you stick to the storyline. Peter Jackson has run roughshod over this by adding characters that were never in the book. Azog the Pale Orc, Saruman, Lady Galadriel and Radagast the Brown were never in the book. If all these characters had been left out it would have reduced the running time by about ½hr. The three trolls did not meet their demise in the way shown. The original way would have been funnier.
That said I thoroughly enjoyed the film and eagerly await the next one. For those people who have never read the book this film is a total delight. for those who have you will be scratching your heads at all the new characters.