Worth it - Short and Simple

Rating: 8/10 (15 December 2012)

I'll try to keep this short and simple, not going into great detail, starting with the good stuff: The effort put into making this film has definitely paid off. The LOTR quality is ever so present in The Hobbit as well. The casting is brilliant, and of course Ian McKellen absolutely steals the spotlight with the character only he could portray :) And now I've seen Martin Freeman as Bilbo, I don't actually think they could have found someone better too.
The music score is fantastic, absolutely no step down from LOTR. The graphics have also greatly improved, but this also has a down side, as I'll discuss later.
There are merely a few "down point" for me. Firstly, this film seems more "childish" than LOTR; there is much more humour and silliness in the film, sometimes in particular scenes where the sincerity of the situation becomes undone as a result of a joke. I didn't think that was suitable.
Also, Jackson has used wide CGI shots with hordes of goblins where the action seems a bit too "fantastic". Sometimes there's just too much going on; swords swing through the air and miraculously hit dozens of goblins within seconds. Entire constructions fall down ravines with the dwarfs on them and they land perfectly safe amidst clouds falling planks and splinters.
Please note though, I have not read the book in years so I can't say whether Jackson's approach in this is true to the book or not.
All in all I definitely felt this film deserved a lesser rating than LOTR, but its an absolute must see nonetheless. If you liked LOTR you'll certainly like The Hobbit also.