A truly excellent and worthy addition to our world of Middle Earth.

Rating: 9/10 (15 December 2012)

As a big Tolkien fan, and a huge admirer of Peter Jackson's triumph with the LOTR series, I was somewhat nervous before this film, hoping and wishing it would live up to it's expectations, proving wrong the critics who rather uselessly claimed it "plodding", "overblown" and "eye straining."
Firstly, having known that Jackson only uses a precise selection of chapters in such a long film I anticipated some plot gaps and some hasty dialogue to assist where needed. I was wrong, the pace, script and scene structure of the film are excellent - free-flowing, fast paced and overall consistent with The Hobbit.
Visually, it is quite breathtaking, most memorable for me are the eagles gliding through the sun drenched sky, the 48fps adds exceptional detail to every scene making the fight scenes especially, even more engaging than the LOTR battles. "Eye-straining" Perhaps that particular critic should refrain from judging 3d movies, because my partner and myself found the animation beautiful and easy on the eyes, and we were in the most straining of positions 1 row from the screen.
Having seen the film all faith in Jackson and his team is restored, with such a formidable cast, excellent visual capabilities and one of the most exciting adventures still to be revealed, I am confident that the Hobbit series will be completed with great success, and easily stand side by side among the LOTR trilogy.
A truly excellent and worthy addition to our world of Middle Earth.