The Hobbit--

[oldster]

being a fan of Tolkien, and having already seen the LOTR movies(many times), I looked forward to the release of the first of the 3 Hobbit movies by Peter Jackson.

And absolutely enjoyed seeing the first of the three Hobbit movies. I am a purist but also realize that modifications need to be done for movies. Though there was a lot of stuff in the 1st Hobbit movie that wasn't in the Hobbit book. I am not disgusted or upset by the additions made. They were done to fill in gaps that were just briefly mentioned in the Hobbit book. The references in the Hobbit to Radagast, Dol Guldur, the original destruction of Erebor by Smaug, etc. were all things I wish the Hobbit book had gone into deeper. and Peter Jackson delved into those areas. And while he added on a lot of new stuff IT WAS ALL consistent with the style, etc of Tolkien.

I was fortunate enough to see the movie in high def 3D and kicked back and enjoyed it. Have a feeling people will be getting used to the high def and high frame rate that Peter Jackson used(though there were complaints by some critics that it was two 'real' and too much of a shock to watch the first time. Have a feeling it will be like people getting used to color TV just as TV made the switch from B&W to color).

The casting for the movie was superb
The attention to detail is just as good(if not better than the LOTR movies)

I deliberately am not going much into plot just to avoid spoiling the movie for others

The main thing I am looking forward to that will be in the next Hobbit movie will be the battle of Dol Guldur between Gandalf and the Necromancer(who is actually Sauron). The battle will likely feature the two following forces
Good---Gandalf and likely Elrond, Galadriel, Saruman(though he will alter be exposed as evil, there were hints in the first Hobbit movie that he may already be 'evil'), Radagast. I believe it likely that the good side will also have elves and possibly a young Aragorn.
Bad----Necromancer(aka Sauron), the Nazgul(Ringwraiths), and probably a bunch of bats, spiders, orcs, and possibly trolls
The battle(according to Tolkien's writings) was mainly a battle utilizing magic. One of the things I wanted to see in the LOTR movies was a battle of magic. And there was just briefly the battle between Gandalf and Saruman. I beleive the battle of Dol Guldur will be a tour de force of a magic battle. It will be interesting to see whether or not we will get more to see of Sauron or whether he'll remain a dark shadow in the background.

In the LOTR movies a number of scenes were minimized as far as time goes or totally not included in the LOTR movies. I would really liked to have seen the LOTR movies include the scene with the Hobbits and Old Man Willow, the battle of the Hobbits vs the Barrow Wight, the rescue of the Hobbits by Tom Bombadil(with Tom finding some magic swords that he gives to Pippin and Merry), and finally, I wish that the LOTR Return f the King included the 'scouring of the Shire' culminating in the death of Saruman and Wormtongue.

On the other hand, the three Hobbit movies are likely to include pretty much everything in the book 'The Hobbit' as well as a bunch of things that were barely mentioned in 'The Hobbit' book or not even mentioned(but were events that were going on at the time)