I saw this over the weekend. I have never read any of the books, but I loved the LOTR trilogy. They are some of my most favorite films that I can watch over and over. The Hobbit wasn't bad, but it is easily the weakest Middle Earth offering for me - mainly due to the length of it coupled with a little too much emphasis on comedy throughout. I don't have a problem with a long movie if it moves along at a good pace. The Hobbit clocks in at just under 3 hours, much like each of the LOTR films, but not much happens for the first 45 min or so, except the dwarves meeting at Bilbo's house. Yes, I know that we need to meet the characters and what not, but that could have been accomplished in about half the time considering after those 45 min, I still could not name more than two of the dwarves...(Thorin and Bomba who reminded me of Friar Tuck) there were too damn many of them.
Once they get on the road, the pace picks up and so does the movie.
In terms of the comedy aspect of the film, I don't have a problem with comedy in an adventure movie, but there seemed to be so many instances of silly humor that it made the film appear to be aimed towards kids more than adults. A good example is the three ogres scene that was silly and comical and never once did I feel that any of the characters were in any real danger. Some of my friends have read the book and said there was a lot of stuff in the movie that wasn't in the book - like the ogre scene. It makes sense in that PJ is taking a single, 500 page book and stretching it into a 9 hour production, which is the same length as the LOTR trilogy that was comprised of 3 books and 1500+ pages.
I did like the movie overall, but I have to acknowledge that it could have been a much better film if the editing was a little tighter.
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