I just got back from an early showing of it. I cannot begin to say how disappointed I was with it. Keep in mind, I LOVED The Lord of the Rings movies. I have read the Books, including The Hobbit several times throughout my life. I played Dungeons and Dragons for years during my youth because of the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The Tolkien books lead to me reading The Wheel of Time series, the Thomas Covenant Chronicles, the Shannara books, The Belgariad and the Mallorean, the Myth series, the Elric series, The Book of Swords, many Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms novels.

Sadly, I was skeptical going in. The LOTR movies were almost lightning in a bottle, and when I went to The Hobbit tonight, it felt like they were trying SO hard to make money with this thing. Dragging it out over 3 movies is just SO unnecessary. It also really felt to me like The Hobbit is the Phantom Menace to The LOTR being the Star Wars trilogy. I hope others like it, personally, I give it a 4 out of 10...

Rylant