[wushuliu]

I think it was way too long with some action scenes being borderline gratuitous. I still find it hard to identify with this band of heroes. Not enough Dwarf blood in me perhaps? LOL. 

Saw it in 3D but had bad seats. It was not a nice experience. I should have watched it in 2D. I can't complain about the sound in ATMOS though.

I'll no doubt watch the 3rd installment but I couldn't help but feel that everything could have been tied up in 2 movies quite easily. This felt more Peter Jackson's King Kong than LOTR to me.

Yeah, his Kong could have been a classic if it weren't for the bloat. Real shame. I wonder if there's a phantom edit out there.

[zybar]

I saw it in 2D last week.  It was not what I had hoped but it was enjoyable.  Much of the story line seemed just an opportunity to impress the latest CG animation craft.  This episode seemed to get the balance between drama and action wrong somehow.  I walked out thinking that Peter Jackson could have accomplished the Hobbit story in two movies.  At nearly 3 hours each, the story would not have felt "compressed".  Just my $0.02.

Couldn't agree more!

Since I hadn't read the Hobbit in over 20 years, I decided to read it today.

Still a great little book.   

George

[ss397]

We saw it last night in Imax 3D. I liked it better than the first movie, it seemed to have better pacing. The 3D was very worthwhile in this film. You could actually just marvel at some of the backgrounds. I am someone who as a rule only likes to see a movie one time, but I could easily watch this one again at any time. I can't wait for the final film, and am saddened that will be the end.

[JoshK]

I saw this Friday in "UltraAVX 3D ATMOS".   From what I gather this was HFR 48fps.  It definitely took me a good 20 minutes to get used to it.  I thought it was really weird feeling at first and felt a tad nauseous, but then I was pretty sick with a cold that day too.

Overall, my friends and I were glad we watched it in 3D ($5 extra) as opposed to 2D as we had the choice.  I think that is the kind of movie that is worth seeing in 3D.    I never saw Avatar in 3D but others I saw felt gimicky to me or at least ho hum. 

As for the movie, I haven't read the Hobbit since I was like 10, and I don't ever remember it.  My expectations were kinda low actually, since I found some of the LOTR movies kinda boring, or atleast too drawn out.  I haven't seen the first Hobbit yet.  I quite liked the overall story line and didn't get bored, even knowing they added in the dwarf/elf love story, etc. 

[starkiller]

Finally saw this today.  Was hoping it would be better then the first prequel and since I have read all 4 books countless times in the last 40+ years I do have certain expectations that usually aren't met and sure wasn't with the first prequel.  Happy to say that this one was much better then the first but still not up to par with any of the originals. Really didn't need to have Legolas in it except for the love interest of course.  A couple of things really bothered me about the flick..

1.  The Bard's girl children looked like they just came from a shoot from the Sound of Music, freshly scrubbed with all white smiles.  The rest of the town sure didn't look that that.

2.  The start of the flick with Bilbo looking at the Wargs and Orcs.  Last film ended with them still standing on the top of the mountain where the eagles had dropped them off staring at the Lonely Mountain.  They seems to be a big gap between that and being chased by Wargs and Orcs. 

Jackson took some liberties of course also with him having Orcs in the town, having Kili shot by an Orc with Tauriel saving his life...lots more others.

This last installment coming up has 3 threads to close, which seems amazing to anyone who has read the book as in book pages it certainly does not warrant an entire flick to show.  As mentioned elsewhere, money would seem to the object here, which is not necessarily bad if its done well.  I have hopes for the last one based on how much better the 2nd one was