The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - saw it last night
 

(No spoilers in this OP. If you've seen it, please be careful when commenting and please don't ruin it for others who haven't.)

It was every bit as good as I hoped. I saw the 3D version and visually it was amazing with terrific casting and performances all round. Some of the scenes... just wow... don't want to give too much away. Just posting to say if you're looking forward to this, I don't think you'll be disappointed. Peter Jackson has done it again, big time.

I might go see it again tomorrow. The worst thing about this is having to wait a whole year for part 2.

excellent! can't wait! i hear Gollum is even BETTER in this, if that's even possible.

Does it stay closer to the book than lotr.

That is dead on correct, imo. They might as well give Andy Serkis and Martin Freeman their Oscars right now. I couldn't believe the interplay that was on screen between a human actor and a CGI character - it was tremendous.

I'm excited about seeing it.

Was your showing in 24 or 48fps? There seems to be an incredible amount of whining going on about the higher frame rate somehow ruining the experience. Never having seen a movie in 48fps, I have no idea about that.

Hmmm - good question. Maybe a tiny bit closer, not that much difference. There's a fair bit of backstory from elsewhere in Tolkien's work built into the movie to flesh things out and make the story about much more of Tolkien's world than was originally revealed in "The Hobbit".

I do think that sticking absolutely to the books in both cases would have been pretty much impossible and changes were made to produce watchable films, whilst still preserving the scope and grandeur of Tolkien's creation. In fact, staying totally true to the book in "The Hobbit" would have resulted in a kid's movie seriously inconsistent in tone with LOTR, as is the case with the books. YMMV.

Hey Bill - I'm taking my daughter to see this when we finish school next week. And I absolutely cannot wait. I've read plenty of reviews and to be honest, they will in no way influence my enjoyment. I know I'm going to love it. There is just so much I am looking forward to seeing. The LOTR trilogy is up there as the most majestic piece of filmmaking I've seen on the big screen....I have no doubt that The Hobbit will also deliver.

And yes, having to wait for parts 2 and 3 is going to be a grueller :)

I loved the 48fps 3D version that I saw. Visually I could not criticise anything about what I watched last night, it was truly spectacular in that respect.

You're right to have high expectations - don't worry, you'll love it for sure, as you say.

My oldest son saw it last night at the midnight showing and said that it was excellent, I'm stoked. We're all probably going to go see it this weekend.

Awesome! Thanks Bill, I'm seeing it tonight with the wife and some friends. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Have fun, man! If you like it half as much as me and my sister did you'll have a great time.

I read The Hobbit long ago, and wondered why they skipped over it when they went to bring Tolkien books to the contemprary movie screen. Great story, sounds like they did a wonderful job, I may have to queue up for this one.

I'm seeing it tomorrow evening with my guitarist and my little sister. It's Imax 3D; she's never seen a 3D movie before so it should be a blast. I'm really looking forward to it. How long is the movie?

I hear it's like 3 hours. My 7 year old is begging to see it with us, might be a long one for him but we'll see

Thanks bro, can't wait to see it. I intentionally didn't read the rest of the posts. Although I have read the book many times I still don't want to hear too much about it.
Have you ever seen the graphic novel of the Hobbit by David Wenzel. I think he did a great job for a graphic novel.

Thinking some more... Tolkien wrote the Hobbit as a kid's book, based on a tiny little bit of his mythology. Then he wrote the LOTR as a much grander work (of course) more in line with the overall themes of his by then much more developed conception. Sometimes, on re-reading, it's hard to believe the two works are really about the same world at all.

Peter Jackson has been able to follow a different sort of course in making these movies. He adapted LOTR for the screen, and a good way to think of the new trilogy (if the first instalment is a good guide - I'm sure it is) is as a genuine PREQUEL to the first trilogy. It's very consistent in style, tone and characterisations with LOTR. This film "fits in" with the previous three movies much more than was the case with the books. That's NOT a criticism of the books, of course, it's just a consequence of Tolkien's workflow and development during his life as writer and the situation Jackson has worked in with the knowledge of the whole thing available for him to draw upon rather than create from scratch.

Short version - this film works really, really well as a LOTR prequel in a way that would be unreasonable to expect in the original books. Just my 2c, maybe some of you will find that point of view of interest.

Even shorter version - Tolkien didn't have the LOTR story available when he created The Hobbit but Peter Jackson did.

Yeah, about 3 hours. It's restricted to 12 year olds and over here in the UK, I'm afraid. It's definitely not a film for very young kids, imo. It would have scared the bajesus out of me when I was 7.

Not sure about its classification in the US.

I think I saw that a good while ago - yes, nice job.

Posts in this thread are "safe" for you up until this point, btw.

My son Graham & I are heading out to see it in a bit.