Loved the LOTRs trilogy but....

Rating: 3/10 (26 December 2012)

Unfortunately this is one of those movies that no matter how many people tell you how bad it is you just have to see for yourself. I wish that on this occasion however I had listened to what I had heard.
OK where to start... I should begin by saying I adore the original lord of the rings trilogy. They are without doubt the finest movies I've ever seen. Now that being said The Hobbit was unfortunately devoid of any of the characteristics that made the original trilogy great.
Perhaps what ruins the film the most is the terrible HFR 48fps and 4k video. All this technology does is give the film a cheap 'BBC drama' look and feel. Fake wigs, noses and other prosthetics are all far too apparent and constantly remind you that none of this is real. As a consequence it is very hard to become immersed in the Hobbit universe and in the story. I'm not sure why this awful looking technology wasn't spotted and sorted out early on as it really does look that bad (I'm talking Scyfy channel bad, and it really shouldn't).
We then have the problem of the pacing, I very rarely fall asleep at the cinema but there were several moments in the first hour that had me struggling to stay conscious. The long drawn out introduction to the dwarfs is unbelievably dull and adds nothing to the movie. We then have some badly choreographed fight scenes (forget anything even remotely like LOTRs trilogy) as actors pretend to swing and hit unrealistic CGI monsters. There is then the finale which like the rest of the movie is a bitter disappointment.
I really am judging The Hobbit as a movie in its own right and not as part of the LOTRs saga. Unfortunately it doesn't matter how you assess this movie as it is simply a bad movie. What we should have had is one excellent movie rather than three bloated mistakes (the hobbit is a 300 page book remember). Terrible visuals, some awful casting, very poor writing and story telling all contribute to make The Hobbit a terrible mess that should have been so much more.