I finally went to see The Hobbit over the weekend. Between the length and some mixed reviews I'd seen, I had considered waiting for the DVD to come out. But it's ultimately one of those movies you should see in theaters. We even went to the 3D IMAX version with the high frame rate, though mostly because the time worked out better.
Visually, I don't think I had as much of a problem with the high frame rate as a lot of people. The people definitely looked realistic, more realistic than the sets at some times. It made me feel like I was watching a highly immersive stage show. A lot of the aerial shots over New Zealand and the scenes that took place at Rivendell were really pretty.
As for the plot, the movie was way too long. Everything with Radagast felt unnecessary and tonally off. It was almost like Jackson couldn't decide whether or not he wanted to make a kids movie. So parts of it were light and silly and others were dark and dangerous. The council meeting at Rivendell was another part that left me bored. I'd rather the movie just focus on Bilbo's journey, like the book did. But I suppose Jackson needs something to fill out three movies and milk this franchise for all it's worth.
The back half of the movie, with the flight through the goblin cave and the riddle game, was really well done and exciting. I'm glad I was able to get back in to the movie and enjoy those scenes, especially after the ridiculousness of the stone giant fight.
Overall I think the movie was really a mixed bag. It seems to be aimed more at hardcore Tolkien fans than more casual audiences. There's so much random back story stuffed in that I was fighting to stay interested a few times. But I did like that parts that were taken from the book. If only Jackson had been able to condense the story a bit, I think the whole experience would have been a lot better.
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