"I will be dead before I see the Hobbit in the hands of a critic. Never trust a critic"

Rating: 8/10 (27 December 2012)

Let me start off by saying that I'm a huge fan of the Lord of the Rings films and novels. In fact, they are my favorite films of all time and I watched the trilogy at least 5 times since last year! I've also read the Hobbit novel and the first two novels from J.R.R Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit has been my most anticipated film of 2012 and was actually expecting a huge disappointment but after 3 1/2 hours (including ads and travel time) I was shocked to say that this is my favorite film of 2012.
Not only was this the best film of 2012 to me, it was also a royal welcome back into Middle Earth. There were so many good things about this film that I simply ignored all criticism that this film has been getting from so called "critics"
***CASTING***
The casting for this film couldn't have been better. Not only do we have the great Sir Ian McKellen returning as Gandalf, we are given a newer Bilbo played by Martin Freeman, who pretty much masters this role. Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield was absolutely spectacular. Either he or Martin Freeman deserve to be nominated for an Oscar. The two both show their emotional sides extremely well. In fact, none of the new cast are weak. All are top noch. I loved Ken Scott as Balin, my favorite dwarf.
The returning cast of Elijiah Wood, Hugo Weaving, Kate Blanchett, Andy Serkis and Sir Christopher Lee have not lost any touch and make the film all the more better. I mean, Sir Lee is still going strong at the age of 90.
***CHARACTERS***
Ever since I read the Hobbit book, there were some characters I absolutely loved. Thorin, Balin, Bombur, Gandalf, Gollum and Bilbo were just a few. I am thankful to say that all are superbly converted on the big screen. I was especially worried about Thorin and Bilbo leading up to this film, but all concerns have passed. Gollum is once again the stand out of the film. The only disappointment is, apart from Thorin, there really isn't much character development for any other dwarf. This was the same in the novel and PJ seemed to not have enough lore for any other character. Balin himself stands out as the second finest of the dwarfs. I also loved all returning characters.
***DIRECTION AND WRITING***
The directing by Peter Jackson is fantastic. Seeing as the Hobbit is a 300 page novel, stretching it out to three films means around 100 pages per film. That was my biggest concern for the film. I expected it to be dreadfuly slow, like critics have said, but to be perfectly honest, this was one of the fastest 3 hours of my life. The script for the film is extremely intelligently written and has lots of surprisingly great humor. I actually found myself laughing on many, many occasions. To me, the pacing of the film was brilliant. The Shire was 45 minutes long but to me, this was the fastest 45 minutes of the film. Peter Jackson did a fantastic job with the action scenes, but it isn't as great as Lord of the Rings. The fight scene at the end of the film at Goblin City was a little too much CGI and a little fake, but Riddles in the Dark keeps you interested in the film.
***SCORE****
Howard Shore does a spot on job with the score. There were some familiar soundtracks such as the Shire, the Nazgul theme and so on. The only concern, as said by critic Jeremy Jahns, is the scene at the end where Thorin stands up to Azog the Dephiler and the Nazgul theme plays. It was disappointing to hear this but the scene and movie itself was badass.
I did not see the movie in 3D or 48fps, but I will go back to watching the 3D 48fps and will report later.
Apart from Thorin, Bilbo, Gandalf, Gollum and Balin, the best thing in the film was........AZOG! I absolutely love this guy. Remember Lurtz, remember Ugluk, remember Gothmog???? Yeah, they were all pretty cool but Azog is just the biggest badass! He added such intense to the movie. In fact, the Hobbit without Azog would've been dreadful. Glad that he did not die in this film as he is the most menacing thing I've ever seen.
****FULL SPOILER***
Riddles in the Dark: Absolutely fantastic. Gollum looked far more realistic here than in Lord of the Rings. The riddles were fantastic and entertaining. It was my favorite part of the film and the book and Peter Jackson did J.R.R Tolkien and his fans justice! I was on the edge of my seat here and often laughing! When we see Gollum lose his precious, that was really intense but as we come back to the scene and find Gollum tearing up, I myself did. Gollum is portrayed as a kind, evil, friendly and psychotic character.
Flashback to Battle of Moria: The scene where Balin recounts the events of Thror after losing Erebor was superb. It was epic and extremely emotional. Azog,when he uses his mace to knock out dwarfs, was just epic. It was a threat and I was freaked out. The paleness was brilliant. He was the bad guy we sorta missed out in Lord of the Rings. In that scene, we can understand Thorin as a character.
Overall, the Hobbit was my greatest cinema experience and is actually one of my favorite all time experiences.
Must see for Lord of the Rings fan. Don't listen to critics and ignore Rotten Tomatoes and Meta Critic.