Until just after the encounter with the Goblins and Gollum.

Im still very excited to see the movie. I guess im just tempering my expectations a little bit.

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W,GAA,SV%,SO
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RW:Perry,MSL,Wheeler
D:Yandle,Subban,Edler,OEL
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DL:Anderson, Pineda,Tulo

I think if you go into it just ready for a good story that has you transported somewhere else for a few hours (like many of us needed yesterday) then you won't be disappointed.

The Hobbit summed up in pictures:

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I saw it last night and found it extremely enjoyable. I read the book ages ago and can't remember a lot of what happened in it but I really enjoyed it.

I went in with low expectations. I had been expecting something extremely slow and dragged out.

I was right - but it wasn't as bad as I figured. Yes, it was dragged out - instead of 170 minutes it could have been 140 easily. But the movie was good and pretty true to the book. I saw it in 3D, which I always hate. But this wasn't as headachey as they usually are. The picture was very crisp and the scenery was spectacular. Bottom line, I'm glad I went and saw it in theater.

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G - Anderson, Hiller, Markstrom, Brodeur
D - Letang, Del Zotto, I. White, Kronwall, Brodin, Nikitin

I do find it odd that people are upset that the movie is being spread out to make more money.

As if Transformers 11 is being done for its artistic qualities.

Making movies is almost always about making money except for the really crappy artsy movies. Big time movies make big time money.

I'm totally fine with giving my money away 3 times instead of 1 or 2 to let the experience of the movies be spread out a bit more.

I'm not upset about movies being spread out to make money per se...

I just find it absolutely mind-blowing that they are extending the Hobbit into a trilogy considering that LOTR was also a trilogy yet it's three books are collectively at LEAST SIX TIMES longer than the Hobbit (which is short novel). Not only that, but the Hobbit storyline is lighter, has more fluff, and less epic battles and adventures than each of the LOTR books individually.

I haven't seen the movie yet, but how they can fill 8-9 hours of content with that tiny novel is unfathomable to me - unless they fill it with side stories.

Yeah, that's what they are doing. Lots of material from other books.

Same background for me. I am saddened by your post, although I know I will still get my butt into the theatre in the next week or two just based on accrued enthusiasm over the last couple of decades.

From what I've heard, the most egregious fault is that Jackson has mis-played the entire tone. LoTR was meant to be an epic of existential proportion, deeply imbued with and flowing from the history and mythology Tolkien lay out. The Hobbit was meant to be a fun adventure story (with a tiny bit of foreboding thrown in, mostly ex post facto, with the ring).. If Jackson had approached the book with that state of mind, I don't think there's any way this would be a trilogy, so although I haven't seen the movie yet, I suspect the reviews along these lines have merit.

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