The movie started with the BEST prologue I've ever seen. Kudos to the writers for including the additional material - it was all time well spent. The introduction of the dwarves and the music (well, ok, I would have loved to have seen Thorin's harp) was fun, and on target. Some reviews complained about pace - this seemed just right to me, given that the book really does pack a lot of action into a short volume. The additional material allows a more leisurely pace. As a lover of the book first and foremost, I applaud Jackson et al once again for taking so much dialog directly from the text. As I also enjoyed the previous movies, I really liked the references made to them - when Frodo goes off to surprise Gandalf, the troll poses, the first time the ring goes onto Bilbo's finger, etc. The stone giants appeared EXACTLY as they had in my imagination when I read the book - can Peter Jackson read my mind? Hmmm....conversely I did not care for the prolonged action sequence in the goblin cave and with the wargs. I also note that in the book the first time Bilbo kills is the spider - and I think that is critical in terms of the story - so the additional action was off-putting to me. I will be going back to see the film in HFR 3D later this week (assuming tickets become available - sell-outs seem the rule here near Philly), so I can't comment on the format at this time. I look forward to the next movie, and although I will continue to watch TORn daily I plan to stick to headline-reading, and avoid so much commentary - I feel as though I missed some of the "wow" factor by knowing too much.

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