I can read the book faster than I can watch all 3 movies

Rating: 3/10 (31 December 2012)

When I first heard that Peter Jackson had decided to make "The Hobbit" into three movies I was rather surprised. "The Hobbit" is not a long or complex book. Just a simple story with some good characters and a good plot that moves along briskly. Unfortunately, the same thing cannot be said of the movie, the first of three. Jackson had four screenwriters, which may explain why this movie is such a muddle, and may also explain its inordinate length. I figure that after all the movies are made I'll be able read the book faster than watch all three movies. The movie is very slow moving, even many of the fight sequences. I fell asleep at one point and awoke dismayed that the movie still had an hour to go.
********* Spoilers********Spoilers*********Spoilers**************** The tedium of the movies was not its only problem. Apparently the quartet of writers think they are better writers than Tolkien. So many things were changed in the movie that it would take too long to enumerate them all. The worst was the treatment of Radagast the Brown, who was not even really in the book. Instead of making him a wizard of intelligence and power, he was portrayed as a buffoon in rags, complete with bird droppings all over his head. The only bright spots in the movie were Martin Freeman as Bilbo and Andy Serkis as Gollum. The scene where Bilbo acquires the ring of power is straight from the book and worth watching. Too bad I can't say the same for the rest of the movie.