My sister and I went to see it, and it turned out to be a rather enjoyable film. Not quite on LotR level, but considering the source material and how they used stuff from Unfinished Tales and such, it was still surprisingly smooth despite the somewhat episodic nature. Jackson managed to weave these different stories together well enough, and even the non-canonical additions to the story didn't quite detract from the overall narrative and actually fit in relatively well. I was also really glad how they kind of recreated an emotionally powerful scene, (SPOILER)Thorin hugging Bilbo in earnest, near the end in LotR trilogy's style.

I really enjoyed Radagast the Brown: it was such a nice performance reminiscent of the famous Finnish tv character Rölli (a somewhat goofy guy living with animals and having powers). They used some of my favourite animals in the scene too (and dat music), and the whimsical nature of the character fit in really well into the overall Hobbit narrative feel. The (SPOILER)Necromancer portions were handled quite well too much to my surprise; I was dreading that they'd feel disjointed in their rather ominous and foreshadowing nature (I also enjoyed the brief cameo of (SPOILER)the Witch King as the ghost who attacks Radagast).

The side characters like the Goblin King and Azog the Defiler had nice designs too and left their mark, particularly Azog who was given two rather epic scenes which almost felt too epic for the Hobbit narrative. Then again, I wasn't quite expecting (SPOILER)such an action-packed prologue with Smaug no less because I thought his takeover of Erebor would've been mentioned instead of actually shown in all the grisly and dramatic detail. I wasn't quite expecting the slight ship tease between Gandalf and Galadriel, though; I wonder if that was a tongue in cheek addition of Jackson and Boyens to "please" the fans or if it's actually based on some supplementary material about the characters in question.

One thing has to be said, though. Gandalf was utterly hilarious in this film, as was Gollum. The audience kept laughing at their scenes (particularly Gandalf's kind yet somewhat smug attitude in parts which make him all the more lovable, and Gollum's "egg" comment which has a lot more dirty connotations in Finnish than Tolkien himself intended in his native tongue).

Quote Originally Posted by Freya View Post
I got to see it and I'm a huge geek for movie scores (and tv shows) and I absolutely loved all the bits that were woven in from the LoTR scores. Even if they were just small snippets. You start to hear a little of Gollum's theme and a little of the sauron/ring theme. Like EEEEE that was awesome.

Oh i guess the movie was cool too BUT THE MUSIC!
Yes, I totally agree. Sis and I were counting how many different themes from LotR showed up (when the Ring and Nature's Reclamation themes appeared, latter of which was played when (SPOILER)the Eagles come to the rescue, it was very nice), and there were quite many. It was also pretty neat how Shore cleverly hinted at the Fellowship theme in certain parts of the film, and I was glad that even one of the elven themes got its chance to shine at some points. I was rather surprised by the different mixing of the choir; it wasn't quite as wet as in LotR, so it doesn't quite mesh with earlier soundtracks, but either way it was handled well. The two new themes that stuck to my mind were obviously the Misty Mountains theme (which became the de facto adventuring theme in this film) and Radagast's quirky yet catchy melody which brought a smile on my face every time it showed up. I just hope Shore develops his dwarven themes more now that he has the chance; if one thing was kind of lacking in LotR's complete recordings, it was how little dwarven material showed up except somewhat more prominently in Moria bits.

Overall, despite its flaws, the Hobbit turned out to be rather enjoyable as a whole. I look forward to seeing the next part and hearing how Shore develops his theme for Smaug and certain other people who will show up. The film's definitely worth a watch, but don't expect it to be similar to LotR because it does have its own feel despite Jackson's attempts to make it somewhat more epic with all those expanded details than the source material originally was.