Near perfect.

Rating: 5/10 (24 December 2013)

I shall start by stating that I am a huge Tolkien fan and that I have read every work Tolkien has written on the subject of middle earth and anything lord of the rings related.
The film perfectly captures the spirit of the hobbit as a book- which is much more light- hearted than The Lord of the Rings, as The hobbit was written as a children's book. While I believe that some scenes from the book were slightly rushed- such as that of Beorn- I didn't particularly mind as these scenes would not have worked so well on film. The whole love triangle thing with Legolas and Tauriel does not work- however, it did not detract from the film much in my opinion. I believe that the inclusion of Tauriel as a character was a great idea from Peter Jackson. I do feel that some of the characters were summed down and simplified such as that of the master of lake town and Smaug.
Now for the good bits: the action is amazing. Truly brilliant. Perhaps there is slightly too much of it but I still think it to be excellent. The scenes in Dol Guldur are brilliant and at last we see Gandalf using some proper magic.
All of the acting is brilliant. Especially that of Martin freeman- more Bilbo would be good.
In all honesty, the film could have been another hour longer. I feel that if the film had been lengthened then the fan favourites such as the scene with Beorn could have been fully realised.
All in all, I still think the film is excellent but to fully enjoy it you must think of it as Peter Jackson and Tolkien as the same entity. This is not just a work of Tolkien- Jackson has added a ridiculous amount to the film.
It's a must see, whatever poor ratings you read are undoubtedly by some sad Tolkien fan talking about how it doesn't stay true to the book; this is true but the film perfectly captures the light hearted feel of the hobbit book.