Amazing

Rating: 9/10 (13 September 2013)

I love JRR Tolkien. His works are incredible, and through the various posthumous releases, a world has been created that is simply epic. The Hobbit is a children's book (a phenomenal children's book) that is situated in this world. So much happens within the storyline of the book that is never mentioned. I think that the story has received a very necessary extension from the humble beginnings of the book. Everything that happened within the first 100 or so pages of the Hobbit was shown in this film, and the extensions were largely taken from the appendices of LOTR. I have seen a lot of people complain about the addition of Azog to the story, he is already well established in Middle Earth history, and although there have been changes to his story from the appendices, it is ultimately his (or his son's) army that acts in the battle of the 5 armies in the end of the book. It seems to me that people who are overly critical of this film know just enough about the Hobbit to know that there is extra material being used, but not enough to know that the majority of this is part of the Tolkien mythology, hence all the complaints. Even on the most basic level, the book to film transition needed more description and action, since most of this is never actually described in the book (Bilbo gets knocked out at the start of the battle and wakes up when it is over). A direct book to film change would have been no where near as exciting, which a film has to require, or people won't watch it!
I loved this film, and I think that PJ has done an amazing job, and I can't wait to see what he will do with the next two.