Hobbit

We went to see The Hobbit last night.

Pro
Martin Freeman is brilliant as Bilbo, he was born to be a hobbit.  The characters from the previous films  fit well into the new(old) story seamlessly, and the characters they have added from background information and the appendices mostly are good too.  The characterisation of the dwarves work really well too, and they end up being much more individual than they are in the book - as far as I can remember as it is a long time since I read it.

The 3D is great.  I am still so thrilled to be able to see it, and don't understand why I can, but it is great and the depth of the pictures are really quite exciting.

Cons
It is too long.  There is too much of the group being scenic against the scenic scenery.  The scene where they escape from the goblins goes on too long too.  The baddy orc isn't very convincing, and as they are meant to be created by man why are they running an independent war?

The ending is at a sensible place, and I can see the second film, but am still completely at sea about what they are going to do with the 3rd one.

Not as good as LOTR because the story isn't as good, there is less drama, less intensity so it is less exciting.

Spoiler alert -Bilbo doesn't tell anyone about the Ring until LOTR and there is a moment when he almost tells, but Gandalf says something and looks at Bilbo as if he knows about the ring - and he doesn't, the whole point is that he doesn't know until he throws the ring into the fire many years later.  That was annoying

Flood fears are rising with the water levels around us, and we spend an hour or so today lifting 100 or so boxes of books off the floor and onto higher surfaces. Ho hum.  Fingers crossed