Great film, not as magical as FOTR.

Rating: 7/10 (22 December 2012)

I went into this film with too much expectation, and a strange sense of nervousness. My first and only viewing so far was in 2D, my preferred viewing dimension for movies, and needless to say I was not disappointed. As a huge fan of Tolkien and the lotr film trilogy this was easily my most anticipated movie event, perhaps with the exception of return of the king pre release.
I found it quite hard to take in, I don't know if anyone else had a sense of this. I felt like my eyes were working overtime trying to keep up with the high definition figures and landscapes sprawling across the screen, trying to drink in every detail but admittedly failing. I think I will glean more from each viewing after now, and start to let go of the little hang ups which nagged me after viewing.
I have no argument with Pete Jackson and his team, they did a spectacular job on the lotr trilogy, and on this, easily my favourite films ever.
That said, I found some things were a little off. Details which would probably seem ridiculous to anybody who wasn't a big fan of Tolkien lore, but small details such as the way gandalf turns the trolls to stone, the way in which bilbo meets gollum immediately after entering the mountain. The way gandalf doesn't behead the great goblin, and the way in which bilbo finds the ring.
I felt that there was a little too much emphasis placed on Azog the 'pale orc', who doesn't really feature in the book. One moment of the film I found a little bit cringeworthy, when Thorin is in the jaws of a Warg, and Bilbo charges down Azog and saves him? That doesn't really add up in any way.
The dwarfs themselves I found a little challenging, but I'm sure I will accept this over time, though they did not look anything like I imagined they would.
Not to sound like all I have are complaints surrounding this movie, but I was disappointed in the under-use of prosthetics in this movie. I understand that CGI makes everything much easier these days, but that was one of the thing that was great about lotr, all the orcs and the antagonists such as Lurtz and Gothmog and the Nazgul were real men, fantastically made-up and modified. They offered a real sense of fear, and danger. A man will always be scarier than a computer generated image. This is where Azog, though impressive, fell a little short, in my opinion.
These small issues aside, I was blown away by the spectacle. Ian McKellan was simply brilliant as Gandalf, some of the best casting ever right there. Martin Freeman was almost as good, and Andy Serkis' Gollum is quite frankly without equal in non-human character portrayal in film. The pioneering work of motion capture CGI, and arguably the centre-piece of this movie, and the previous trilogy.
All in all, a wonderful cinema experience. It was far from perfect, but it doesn't matter really. It will please everyone. Can't wait for parts 2 and 3.