A response to some of the Critics of the Hobbit

Rating: 10/10 (11 December 2012)

I have not yet seen the film, which actually gives me more freedom to discuss some aspects.
First point is that overall the Critical response is not as bad as many are making out and that much of the criticism that has been made should be taken with a grain of salt. Many have complained about the 48fps – but really this should be ignored. 90% of viewers will see it at 24fps and this is the way critics should see it as this is the more apples to apples comparison with LOTR and all other movies. Any criticism of 48fps should be a foot note and not part of the conclusion. I have a TV that allows me to switch off the Soap opera effect – thus I can not complain if I choose the wrong format for me. Audiences will have the same choice.
Some people complain that since the Hobbit is 400 pages this does not merit an epic style trilogy. But this drives me nuts – since this trilogy is not simply the Hobbit. One reason why I am more excited to see the movie is because I will not be familiar with the numerous non Hobbit characters and plot elements – all of which are potentially justifiable as they come from Tolkiens writings or notes or probable intentions. Plus I hear that the goal of seeking out Smaug has evolved to include the more epic/bridging motive to prevent Smaug becoming allied with Sauron. So critics who go on about six Chapters of the Hobbit, well they are showing a significant lack of professionalism and ignorance on the subject.
Then there are those who appear to forget that this is a very difficult set up movie – simply having a single movie with a couple of Dwarfs meeting untimely deaths would carry little emotional weight, and be totally at odds with LOTR. It is clearly imperative that Jackson some how creates character development for each of the Dwarfs – so if the first hour is rather slow – the pay off theoretically should come in spades later on in the tale. We do not yet know if this will be a great Trilogy – but for it to have any chance of being a great Trilogy we must get to know the Dwarfs, they each need screen time and they each need events that show off their individual characteristics. Many of my favorite movies have slow or even irritating first halves- but that just makes the climax so much more thrilling, more worth waiting for. A good Critic should not have a short attention span – certainly not shorter that the millions of teenagers that will adore this movie.
Finally there seems to be lack of understanding about how difficult it must be to balance the Hobbit (basically a Children's book) with the more adult LOTR. But it seems that Jackson is successfully making that Transition. This means that the film with have more humorous and less fearsome action scenes – but I suspect that that will evolve over the course of the Trilogy. Many of the smarter critics are giving Jackson the appropriate latitude to achieve all of this over the course of the trilogy.
Is the film 20 minutes too long? Well I have yet to see it.