Some good points - some not so good - good film but prefer the book !

Rating: 7/10 (21 December 2012)

I read The Hobbit again before going to the film and I can say that I probably prefer the book but i did enjoy seeing how they had made the film. I enjoyed the parts of the film which actually showed the action from the book. Some of the computer graphics in the film were a little ridiculous, particularly in the parts which strayed from the book.
I didn't like the regional accents of the dwarfs. UK regional ! I picked up Scottish, Cockney and Irish, north of England and no doubt others too ! I think they should have had an entirely original "Middle earthish" accent - they also seemed to be just a little more unpleasant than the dwarfs in the book ! I would like the dwarfs to have dressed a little more like they do in the book. Although I do seem to think perhaps Tolkien did have some characters who had a London accent...
I also would prefer not to have seen the three head butts that feature in the film - not good for children to see. They may even encourage people to think that is a sensible way to fight which is immensely dangerous.
And finally, there were at least three scenes of computer generated extensive scenery where the sheer extent of the computer graphics were just way beyond what was at all likely - OK great it fills the whole large screen but was at least 33% more than was at all necessary. And we also noticed that very very intermittently we suddenly got a fantastic burst of surround sound - but just in very sporadic bursts...Why not all through the film ? why so sporadic ?
But apart from that I did enjoy the film . I wondered whether it was better to have read the book or not to then watch the film - probably evens either way. In some ways the film did actually enhance the book by explaining the story a little better than I had picked up from the book.
However, yes do go and see it. It might just have a few scenes which are a bit too much for younger viewers e.g. 6 or 8 and under, depending on how squeamish they are. And perhaps it might also not hold their attention - there were a few younger audience members who were a little restless in the first half of the film.
Also, one other thing was the dialogue was not very clever. In the book the dialogue is quite clever - but if you are going to stretch it to three films, you maybe need to get some good screen writers in so that you can write some clever scenes rather than relying on computer animation and graphics which I find over the top.
Also the bits where translations were added to the screen were in some instances farcical.
However enjoy the film !!