Has some great things, but it is REALLY long

Rating: 7/10 (9 February 2013)

The Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of the most outstanding achievements in filmmaking history. They have a great story, great characters, great effects and just a great feel to them. Of course I have only seen them once. I just can't really find the time to watch them, they are so long and I feel obligated to watch them all in one sitting. Now we have the Hobbit, which is a prequel, based on one book and yet it's just as long as the other films. Does it deserve to be that long? No, the answer is no, there is no reason this movie needs to be three hours long. It's three hours long and it feels like it, the pacing in the first half of the movie is so off that I almost wanted to stop watching it. Also it seems this movie is playing it a little too comedically, I know the other movies had comedy, but it seems half the diologue had a punchline. A lot of the characters are just sort of forgettable, and did I mention that it is long? Technical wise though this film is amazing, the visuals, the cinematography, the action, all of these were outstanding. The acting is really good, especially the guy who played young Bilbo, man, he looked exactly what you would expect a young Bilbo to look like when you see old Bilbo. It's nice to see some old faces again such as Sauromon, Frodo, and Hugo Weaving (can't remember his name.) And the second half definitely picks up the pacing a bit.
The Hobbit is overly long, and the first half has some unbelievably slow pacing. But the stuff they get right, they get really right.